tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-24686037135437640422018-01-31T08:19:48.134-08:00Worlds Beyond EarthEric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.comBlogger87125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-77875279204879201642018-01-30T08:06:00.000-08:002018-01-30T08:06:51.692-08:00Invasion of the Hawfax: South America<br />The Haxfax live in South America, sharing a border with Columbia,Peru, Bolivia, and Brazil. These countries greatly benefit from their new neighbors and trading partners, and the Hawfax&nbsp; changed the political landscape here like nowhere else. &nbsp; <br /><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WMJ27h7TZ3o/VowADzr4diI/AAAAAAAAADk/biZmvc7AsqM/s1600/HawfaxMap.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-WMJ27h7TZ3o/VowADzr4diI/AAAAAAAAADk/biZmvc7AsqM/s320/HawfaxMap.png" width="320" /></a><br /><h2>Balance of Power:</h2>The Hawfax try to keep their neighbors balanced with one another. Their support and rising mineral prices produced a strong Bolivia capable of defending its territory against its neighbors. Brazil has not grown at the same rate as Bolvia or Peru, though it has hardly 'suffered'. Its lost rubber industry is replaced by a rich if irritable trading partner with an appetite for bauxite and who prefers to run goods down Brazil's rivers rather than the Andes railways.<br /><a name='more'></a><br />The Hawfax brokered a ceasefire zone in the territory disputed by Bolivia and Chile through&nbsp; economic and technological pressure. While both countries have rights to the land, it acts semi-autonomously and in many ways is a Hawfax protectorate. The three cities of Arica, Iquique, and Antofagasta boom with trade and industry.<br /><br />Columbia was in the midst of a civil war when the Hawfax made themselves known, and events have only exacerbated the conflict. Columbia lacks a quick way to profit from the Hawfax, and it also lacks the resources to make a long term investment in this new opportunity. Foreign powers see Columbia as the best location to create a puppet government with access to the technological marvels in the far Amazon, but all they've done so far is pour money into the war.<br /><br />Europe is dismayed at South America's unexpected source of wealth. The American reaction is only slightly less negative, as American interests were well positioned to take advantage of the opportunities. American Military intervention or interference in South America has gotten much more difficult.The Hawfax try to stay aloof from foreign affairs, but the sovereignty of its neighbors is one of the affairs they actually car about.<br /><br />The four neighbors (if you can count poor Columbia) occasionally try bargaining with the Hawfax as a group. This generally breaks down on all but the simplest of demands. They have much more success setting rules for outside powers to follow, generally along the lines of tariffs and customs.<br /><br />The rest of South America lies in the shadow of the four neighbors. Their new wealth comes with strings attached, and each has a neighbor unexpectedly growing in power. Chile took this with the most grace, giving up territorial demands for trading rights. With its supply of copper and partnership in the Bolivian ports, Chile functions as a fifth neighbor of sorts, closely allied with Peru and Bolivia. Contests for influence over the other nations is more fluid. Brazil has better access to the Atlantic coast, but the historical ties between the Spanish nations level the playing field.<br /><h2>Copper vs. Aluminum </h2>The Hawfax greatest requirement from the outside world is metal. Specifically, they need conductive metals for conveying the huge amounts of power they produce and use. Either Copper or Aluminum will work. In a turn of fate, aluminum is a major product of Brazil, while copper is a major export of Chile, who ships it through Bolivia and Peru. Copper and Aluminum have come to symbolize political situations in which the Hawfax favor one neighbor or another. Regulations and boycotts on each metal are a significant form of leverage. The great powers would happily provide these metals, but none of the neighbors are about to let someone undercut them in such a way, and tariffs on the metals are sky high.<br /><br />The dominance of either copper or aluminum changes every two years or so, according to the unpredictable public option of the Hawfax media. The Hawfax would really prefer to produce their own wiring, but they don't have access to the mineral deposits they'd need. And even if they did, most Hawfax consider mining to be drudgery.<br /><br />The politics of metal imports have driven Peru, Bolivia, and Chile together. If they stand united, they can hike up copper prices and both make enormous profits. They squabble endlessly, but the potential for profit ensures they always come up with some sort of arrangement.<br /><br />Much as copper has brought Peru, Chile, and Bolivia together, it has driven them apart from Brazil. The Hawfax discourage war, so the political rivalry takes a more underhanded course, with propaganda campaigns, cold shoulders, and simmering disputes.<br /><h2>Transportation</h2>While the Hawfax mostly import electrical conductors, they export their technology. Or at least some of their technology. Careful laws restrict selling many items, but enough products are legally traded to power a thriving economy. Of course, transport through the thick jungles and high mountains that surround Hawfax City is not trivial, even when you're not engaged in smuggling.<br /><br />The Amazon, the cheapest route, snakes through the Brazilian states of Amazonas, Para, and Amapa. Towns have sprung up along the entire route, but the most important are Macampa at the mouth of the river, and the old rubber capital, Manaus, most of the way in. Duties and Tariffs for this route are often high, but with the size of the Amazon and the rampant corruption of the Brazilian law enforcement, smugglers abound. There is a separate tariff for each state, and one for the national government as well.<br /><br />The western routes stretches railroads across the Andes mountains into the jungle through Peru and Bolivia.&nbsp; Each nation built its own route, though Bolivia's passes through the cease fire zone it shares with Chile. Both railroads are fantastic feats of engineering, with awe-inspiring tunnels and bridges. The funds for these monumental projects largely came foreign investors. Germany owns a particularly large share of the Peruvian debt, while the Bolivian route features prominent British ties. The comfortable rail routes are disliked by smugglers, as train stations and other choke points make inspections easier. Fortunately, the right bribe will get most goods through. <br /><br />If a traveler must truly avoid Brazil, Bolivia, and Peru, they could try braving the jungle, mountains, and conflict of Columbia. Rail routes lead through the mountains passes, if you can find one held completely by one faction or another, but the jungle has only dirt paths. All the rivers run into Brazil, forcing travelers move by foot, bearing the heat, crossing major rivers, and navigating without any real landmarks or even an open sky, and braving the snakes and insects.<br /><h2>Columbia</h2>Columbia has neither copper nor bauxite to offer the Hawfax, and it has the worst routes into or out of the area. But it is a route in, and sometimes politics dictate its use.<br /><br />Unfortunately (or Fortunately, depending on how you look at it) Columbia entered a civil war shortly after the Hawfax landed. Tensions had simmered for years, but the sudden importance of Columbia triggered foreign meddling and conflict burst into violence. Officially, the ruling "Conservatives" attempt to defend themselves from the rebel "Liberals"*.&nbsp; In fact, the great powers fund various splinter factions and the ranks of the forces are filled with as many foreign mercenaries as native patriots. Fear of Hawfax reprisal (economic, not military) keeps official involvement by great powers low key, but each year sees more overt meddling than the last. <br /><br />*This war is based on the thousand day war in real history. It takes a very different route, due to the increased resources. <br /><h2>Brazil</h2>The Federal Republic of Brazil is more of a federation than a republic. Its governors elect the president, rather than the direct vote of the people. The governors generally rig the elections in one way or another, and so are functionally independent. Their reactions to the&nbsp; Hawfax vary widely.&nbsp; <br /><br />The three states controlling the Amazon struggle to keep up with their booming prosperity. Infrastructure is in a constant state of half-finished construction. And just as the civic improvements lag behind, so do the political machinations that gave the governors their power for so long. Many Brazilians migrated north to these states, but a larger segment hails from Europe. Italy, Germany, Britain, Spain and Portugal contribute the largest numbers of European immigrants. Large numbers of people from "The States" and Japan have arrived as well. The newly formed boom towns thrive with opportunity. The very highest and lowest of society mingle, and towns can sport both brothels catering to dock workers and five star hotels catering to medical pilgrims.<br /><br />The area inland from Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo enjoys a much healthier bauxite boom. Immigrants flow to the mines of Mias Gerais, but the area has an established local population who&nbsp; keep the immigrants in their place. Rumors abound of alternate bauxite reserves in less populated states, but as of yet no one has started up rival mines, and sky high tariffs ensure foreigners can't get a piece of the pie. At least in theory.<br /><br />The population centers to the north and south of this area haven't grown as fast as these hot spots, and push for a national government with the power to distribute the wealth to their regions.&nbsp; Meanwhile their young men move away to seek their fortunes. Despite this, these states are actually thriving economically. The booms enrich the whole country, but with some states growing faster than others, the old dominant states look for ways to maintain their power.<br /><h2>The Pacific Nations</h2>"Civilist" Party of Peru stands for civilian rule (as opposed to military). This is harder than it sounds: military coups are common, though they almost always fail. While the wealthy elite of the country control the Civilists, they've recently faced competition from foreign powers, particularly Germany.<br /><br />The railroad and new wealth transformed Bolivia more completely than the other neighbors of the Hawfax. The new ruling power of Bolivia, the Liberals, was already looking for something to revitalize Bolivia when the Hawfax became known to the outside world. The government, if not the entire country, attempted to reorient itself to take advantage of this new opportunity. They've been opposed by rivals, of course, but the old animosity between tin and silver interests keeps them from uniting. Not to mention support from the great powers.<br /><br />Many Bolvians have attempted to adopt the Hawfax's philosophy and art as well as their science and technology. The frequently flawed translations and conversions both flatter and bemuse the Hawfax. The Bolivians especially mangle the art and cuisine, tweaking the awkward parts so they do work for humans, and then presenting whole to the world as "Hawfax Culture". Its not particularly accurate, but is new, exotic, and much more accessible and appealing than the real thing.<br /><br />Chile does not border the Hawfax, but its supplies of copper and involvement in the initial treaties more than compensate. Chile is tends to be closer to Bolivia than Peru, but plays with both to ensure it gets the best deal. It has also leveraged its initial wealth advantage. Chilean politics is subdued: it is said in Chile there are two kinds of problems: problems that fix themselves and problems that cannot be fixed. Unusually for Latin America, its legislative body has more power than its president.<br /><br />Immigration into Peru, Bolivia, and Chile is more orderly and subdued than Brazil. Most workers are brought in by the railroads, and most are from the sponsoring nations. Workers also commonly travel between the three countries. In contrast to the colorful and sporadic communities of the amazon, the new towns of the pacific are more orderly, more staid, and oddly homogeneous.<br /><h2>The Rest of the Continent</h2>The rest of the continent hasn't benefited quite as much from the Hawfax, and look on with concern as their neighbors grow in power. Ecuador, Paraguay, and Uruguay are too small to do much about it. They generally look for who will give them the best deal and try to become close to those nations. Ecuador doesn't have much of a choice, already mostly under Peruvian sway, but Paraguay and Uruguay try to play Brazil off of the various nations of the Pacific. <br /><br />Argentina saw the greatest loss in prestige. Before the Hawfax it produced twice as much wealth per person as any other South American nation. Now it's position is unreliable, and it previously made rivals of both Brazil and Chile.<br /><br />the Guianas have seen renewed interest from their colonial masters (The British, French and Dutch), who see them as vital ports and footholds on an increasingly important continent. They are also beginning to explore the bauxite deposits. The existing neighbors won't allow their own monopolies to be overturned, but the situation could change. The war in Columbia could be resolved and open a route to the Hawfax, or pressure could lower those astronomical tariffs. For now, opportunists must wait, pay the tariffs, or try to smuggle massive barges of ore down the amazon.<br /><br />Venezuela has so far been insulated from the changes by the Guianas and by the civil war of Columbia. It continues on much as it has.<br /><h2>Adventuring in South America</h2>South America is pivotal part of the Hawfax setting, and there is lots of dirty work to be done. One of the simplest jobs in smuggling goods along the amazon. Or catching the smugglers! Peru's Civilist party has weathered many coups in the past, but now the stakes are even higher. What will happen in the next one? Propaganda plays a huge role in economics, as it determines the ever changing pendulum of the Hawfax political climate. Will they favor Brazil's bauxite or the Pacific's copper? Diplomatic incidents are central to this question, and such incidents can be manufactured! Or perhaps your PC's want to try something truly difficult and end the Colombian war.<br /><br />on the other hand, maybe the PC's just want to get to the Hawfax.To do so, they must pass through the transformed lands of South America. Which route will they take? who will they meet on the way? <br /><br />This article is meant as a stage for PC's to play out their stories on. I hope you find it useful.Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-29446352692954302352017-10-30T09:35:00.002-07:002017-12-05T07:09:44.676-08:00Borlo FTL<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kgskAXUahFs/WdUhhSKF8sI/AAAAAAAAAY0/i6qflAsYJiIsMuRtsiZRcGMN2rX7b8LtgCLcBGAs/s1600/milkywayGalaxy.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-kgskAXUahFs/WdUhhSKF8sI/AAAAAAAAAY0/i6qflAsYJiIsMuRtsiZRcGMN2rX7b8LtgCLcBGAs/s320/milkywayGalaxy.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>&nbsp;In my Borlo campaign, my design of Faster Than Light (FTL)&nbsp; travel was very important, even though the players never left the planet's surface. How easy or difficult it is to get somewhere shapes&nbsp; the culture and game-play of a setting.&nbsp; I really liked the system. It lets you cross the galaxy in a month, but it takes weeks to get to any particular place. My favorite consequences include:<br /><ul><li>It creates massive frontier areas where communication and transportation is possible but slow</li><li>Travel times are unpredictable&nbsp;</li><li>The ideal route for a merchant (or any other spaceship) is often to visit a new world. </li></ul>&nbsp; These features make for good gaming: The PC's are often isolated from help or stodgy management, but if they need to leave a world, they can do so quickly. Colonization occurs in many places all at once instead of growing shell of planets that quickly go from one hundred to one billion people. How does it do this? I now present to you: the Borlo FTL system.<br /><a name='more'></a> <br /><br /><h2>In a Nut Shell</h2><ul></ul>The core idea behind this star-drive system is quite simple: <br /><ul><li>you must decide your destination at the beginning of the jump.</li><li>Preparing to enter hyperspace takes one minute. This is almost entirely automated</li><li>You are in hyperspace for 100 hours of passenger time and 5 to 10 days of real time, no matter how far you are going. </li><li>You arrive in an empty area of space "nearby" your target. The farther you went, the farther you are from your hoped destination. Most of the time, you will have to jump again.</li><li>Some places are "Anchor Points" that make jumps more accurate.</li></ul>That's probably all the drive really needs, and that's all my players really used.&nbsp; But they only cared about where people were coming from and how far it was to civilization. If we want PC's to travel in ships, we'll need more details.<br /><ul></ul><h2>Accuracy</h2>The drive can jump from 3 to 20,000 light years without issues. Unfortunately, the drive doesn't arrive at the precise location put into the computer, but some distance away. This distance is called the error distance. The distance may be determined as follows:<br /><br />error distance: 3d6 * (Length of Jump) * .002 * (Range Modifier)<br /><br />The length of jump is in light years.<br />The range modifier is from the speed and range table, reading yards as light years.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gJwDy9-gUtc/WdUitzM1zNI/AAAAAAAAAZA/dyu3sZNofkgRqCDjM7TmBICs-GOCZvIwgCLcBGAs/s1600/target.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="573" data-original-width="573" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gJwDy9-gUtc/WdUitzM1zNI/AAAAAAAAAZA/dyu3sZNofkgRqCDjM7TmBICs-GOCZvIwgCLcBGAs/s200/target.png" width="200" /></a></div>The direction of the error is irrelevant for most journeys, but if it matters, the GM should roll for it, giving all directions an equal chance. 20,000 light year jumps are usually about 10,000 light years off. 10 light year jumps are usually about a single light year off.<br /><br />For example, if <i>The Sunny Comet </i>was jumping 20,000 light years, her navigator look up 20,000 yards on the speed and range table.&nbsp; 20,000 yards is a -24 penalty, so we'll multiply . That's a huge amount, but the roll of 7 on 3d means this jump is more accurate than most. My final distance is 24 x .002 x 7&nbsp; x 20,000 for 6,720 light years of error. Its a pretty accurate jump for how big it is, but the <i>Comet </i>is still thousands of light years from its destination.<br /><h2>Time In Nowhere</h2>The time spent in the jump (in hyperspace, I suppose) is always exactly 100 hours from the point of view of the passengers -- just over four days.&nbsp; If I'd been pushed for a more exact number I'd have made one up, but rounded off 4 days. In contrast, it takes an unknown amount of time to arrive at your destination. <br /><h2>Anchor Points</h2><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Anchor points are used to reduce the error on a jump, as they give a beacon to zero in on. Natural</div><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LFIYdcBdzGo/WdUj-LsAVQI/AAAAAAAAAZM/weFcf8u_PYkTa5iS5VqSgh_A1y5xsKEcACLcBGAs/s1600/galaxy%2Bwith%2Banchors.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1024" data-original-width="1024" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LFIYdcBdzGo/WdUj-LsAVQI/AAAAAAAAAZM/weFcf8u_PYkTa5iS5VqSgh_A1y5xsKEcACLcBGAs/s320/galaxy%2Bwith%2Banchors.png" width="320" /></a>Anchor points are formed by super-massive bodies fairly close to each other. Almost all of them are found in the dense galactic core. Artificial Anchor points require large amounts of energy, and only the very largest and richest communities have them. When I used this in the game, only Earth had an artificial anchor point.<br /><br />Anchor points have some real economic implications. Most anchor points aren't good for inhabited planets, but they make good trading hubs. Some of the natural ones will have stations just to facilitate this trade. Artificial anchor points are also a big deal, reducing the time to get to them by large amounts. This makes them trade hubs as well, and given their other resources, large and powerful ones.<br /><h2>How to Get Around the Galaxy</h2>Yes, this gets you across the galaxy in reasonable times. The longest safe jumps are 20,000 light years each -- an astounding speed. 5 weeks are sufficient to go 100 thousand light years, a commonly quoted number for the galaxies width (edges are a little blurry). Other Galaxies are possible, but take longer. Andromeda takes about 2 years to reach. The galaxy is only one thousand light years thick, and can in a single fairly short jump. <br /><br />However, if you want to go somewhere specific, it takes longer. If you are 20,000 light years away from somewhere, it will take 8 to 9 jumps to get there. That's 8 to 9 weeks. Longer than it takes to cross the galaxy! Even if you're merely 2,000 light years away, that's still 5 jumps. Jumping to an anchor point tends to cut the time in half. Yep, just half. Still much better than the alternative!<br /><br />A lot of the time though, people <i>aren't </i>going somewhere specific. Or at the very least, they can be flexible. You can sell your load of tractors on the farm world you just popped up next to as easily as as the one you wanted to go to. Colonies tend to form in clusters, so that they can attract these cheaper traders of opportunity. Most merchants travel with their cargo, and as they approach their destination, choose which world they think will be both closest and need their goods. This makes markets for exports a little swingy though: its quite possible Borlo will get 4 ships full of tractors in a month, while Relston won't have any tractors shipped in for half a year.<br /><h2>Short Jumps</h2>I actually never solidified how the last part of the drive works. A couple of&nbsp; schemes are possible, depending on what you want.<br /><br />When I first laid out the system I was planning on just using a second FTL system more akin to a warp drive. Not as fast as the Jump Drive, but much more reliable. In fact, the original write-up had jumps less than 2 light years raised the error to 10% of the total distance, and attempting to jump less than 1 light year just broke your star drive. You can use different variations on this, but be aware it requires either huge transit times or introducing a new FTL system into your campaign.<br /><br />When I actually ran the game, FTL was background enough I instead decided to simplify things. jumps under 2 light years were accurate enough&nbsp; to just arrive where they needed to: in orbit around the system. There are some nasty military applications to this (see Niven on receiverless teleportation), but my players weren't in a position to abuse it.<br /><br />The additional FTL system is the more robust method, designed to stop some of the worst abuses of a pinpoint teleportation device, like popping into orbit with a loaded weapons platform. The variable time delay introduces an additional layer of inaccuracy, and makes it so you can't&nbsp; put a whole fleet into orbit at once, but there are ways around that.<br /><h2>Pushing the envelope&nbsp;</h2>Its possible to try and jump farther than 20,000 light years. However, its also risky. Your inaccuracy is 50%, and for every 1,000 light years beyond 20,000 you go, you have a 10% cumulative chance of never returning. Its unknown where such ships end up. Do they explode? Do they end up in hyperspace stasis forever? Rumors abound, but almost everyone respects the 20,000 light year limit. At least while they're physically in the ship. Scientists love to run experiments with probes. <br /><h2>The Tables</h2>A lot of the time, knowing the average amount of time it takes to get somewhere is just as important as knowing the exact time. And if the exact timing of the jump doesn't matter, then the GM could just use the average travel time. <br /><table><colgroup style="background-color: #8899cc;"> <col></col> <col></col> <col></col></colgroup><colgroup style="background-color: #aaaaaa;"> <col></col> <col></col> <col></col></colgroup><colgroup style="background-color: #8899cc;"> <col></col> <col></col> <col></col></colgroup> <tbody><tr><th>Distance</th> <th>Average # of Jumps </th><th>Average Error</th><th>Distance</th> <th>Average # of Jumps </th><th>Average Error</th><th>Distance</th> <th>Average # of Jumps </th><th>Average Error</th></tr><tr><td>20,000</td> <td>8.0</td><td>9,600</td><td>1,500</td> <td>4.9</td><td>510</td><td>100</td> <td>2.7</td><td>20</td></tr><tr><td>15,000</td> <td>7.6</td><td>6,900</td><td>1,000</td> <td>4.4</td><td>320</td><td>70</td> <td>2.1</td> <td>12.6</td></tr><tr><td>10,000</td> <td>7.1</td><td>4,400</td><td>700</td> <td>4.1</td><td>210</td><td>50</td> <td>2.0</td><td>8</td></tr><tr><td>7,000</td> <td>6.6</td><td>2,940</td><td>500</td> <td>3.8</td><td>140</td><td>30</td> <td>1.9</td><td>4.2</td></tr><tr><td>5,000</td> <td>6.1</td><td>2,000</td><td>300</td> <td>3.4</td><td>78</td><td>20</td> <td>1.7</td><td>2.4</td></tr><tr><td>3,000</td> <td>5.6</td><td>1,140</td><td>200</td> <td>3.0</td><td>48</td><td>15</td> <td>1.14</td><td>1.5</td></tr><tr><td>2,000</td> <td>5.1</td><td>720</td><td>150</td> <td>2.9</td><td>33</td><td>10</td> <td>1.0</td><td>.8</td></tr></tbody></table><h2>Searching the Stars</h2>This system isn't for every setting, of course. But I found it fit a lot of requirements most FTL doesn't, and changed my setting to be more immersive. I hope you find good use for it, whether just as I present it here, or as inspiration for your own system. Happy Starfaring!Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-26201463997850484272017-09-25T10:52:00.004-07:002017-09-25T10:52:59.905-07:00Gurps City Management Refence Chart<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Gurps actually supports running a city as a game, and I'm currently playing a game where that's exactly what's going on. My players are trying to keep a city in deep trouble from being slaughtered, running out of food, or breaking out into riots.</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Gurps has rules for this! And they're actually not that bad. Yes, I had to make a chart for them, but I found that the interactions weren't all that complex: there was just a lot of things to keep track of, and it was written as text, rather than as a table or diagram. This chart lets you see all of the stats and possible actions at once and have confidence that you're not missing anything.<br /><br />The rules displayed here are drawn from <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/citystats/">GURPS: City Stats </a>and from <a href="http://www.warehouse23.com/products/pyramid-number-3-slash-54-social-engineering">Pyramid 54</a>'s article "City Management". I highly recommend those works. If you're interested in city management in gurps you should also check out Mailanka's "<a href="http://mailanka.blogspot.com/search/label/Orphan%20of%20the%20Stars">Orphan of the Stars</a>" work.&nbsp;</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I hope you find this useful. I know I sure did!</div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zeg5MoshEgI/Wa1-xYfJubI/AAAAAAAAAYc/DpSGD03qPvElhivVTnjhWw52hOFx8I_zgCLcBGAs/s1600/City%2BManagement%2Bin%2BGurps%25281%2529.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1077" data-original-width="1600" height="215" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Zeg5MoshEgI/Wa1-xYfJubI/AAAAAAAAAYc/DpSGD03qPvElhivVTnjhWw52hOFx8I_zgCLcBGAs/s320/City%2BManagement%2Bin%2BGurps%25281%2529.png" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">click for full size version</td></tr></tbody></table>Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-88121962015122156372017-05-03T05:56:00.000-07:002017-05-03T05:56:21.471-07:00What I wish I knew as an Online GM 18 Months ago<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7tg04uaOuCk/WQdj6y6O8oI/AAAAAAAAAW8/YWVO8sDHz_kM-fyaB3jV1VpRjp8bnSRzACLcB/s1600/moveMap.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="204" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-7tg04uaOuCk/WQdj6y6O8oI/AAAAAAAAAW8/YWVO8sDHz_kM-fyaB3jV1VpRjp8bnSRzACLcB/s320/moveMap.png" width="320" /></a>In December of 2015, I moved from a college town where I knew lots of people and had a gaming group to a rural location where I knew almost no-one. As a result, I moved from gaming face to face with an established group to gaming online with complete strangers. Looking back over those 18 months, there are a few things I wish I had known. <br /><a name='more'></a><br /><h2>The GM is Responsible for Making Sure Everyone Has Fun</h2>This is the first and last law of GMing. Every good GM realizes their art is a largely selfless craft. If there is a problem, it the GM's problem. I learned that lesson a long time ago, but I failed to apply it to group management, focusing solely on the plot, setup, mechanics, and so forth. Previously I had gamed with either existing groups with a long history, or with friends I knew well.&nbsp; I didn't have experience managing player conflicts or new groups, and I had trouble until I pulled my head out of the sand and made those issues my problem.<br /><br />Yes, it'd be nice if everyone behaved and got along with each other, but they don't, and someone has to fix that. By which I mean that I, the GM, have to fix that. There are other problems that came up, but most of them were fixable once I realized that I had the responsibility to make the game happen, including players and player dynamics. When you're moving to a new medium of play, make sure to remember that. <br /><h2><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Calendar_font_awesome.svg/512px-Calendar_font_awesome.svg.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/69/Calendar_font_awesome.svg/512px-Calendar_font_awesome.svg.png" width="200" /></a>Be Consistent!</h2>Nothing will kill a game faster than inconsistency. I've noticed my group does much better when I make an effort to play each night, no matter what. You can miss one night, but missing multiple nights in a row is a bad idea. I started having a backup game that could be played if attendance plummeted for a night, and it helped with consistency: players started showing up on nights they knew others would be missing, because they knew we'd end up playing a meaningful game no matter what. (yes, playing with half your PC's gone can become meaningless).<br /><br />I wasn't an inconsistent GM, but I didn't go the extra mile to make sure the game happened at first. Now I've made it a requirement for myself. If there won't be a game, its because I didn't run it, and I told everyone well in advance: at least 48 hours in advance (though I might have once had to do 24) and hopefully a full week.<br /><br />I don't know why this is, but I've found it important to remind players to come to the game. A simple email or line in the game chat works wonders: people show up on time, they tell you if they're going to be late or miss the game, and that half-hour of windup becomes an hour of play. A penny of reminder is worth a pound of play. I wish I'd realized this earlier. Its so easy to email or send a chat message along the lines of "I'm looking forward to tonight!"<br /><h2>Small Talk is Important</h2><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aQiAn7vinG8/WQdqDfSxu7I/AAAAAAAAAXs/OvzKiDuhlV0fAjh2SLuDnWru2bP5sJbhwCLcB/s1600/TalkingOverDice.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-aQiAn7vinG8/WQdqDfSxu7I/AAAAAAAAAXs/OvzKiDuhlV0fAjh2SLuDnWru2bP5sJbhwCLcB/s200/TalkingOverDice.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gaming is at its core a social activity</td></tr></tbody></table>Earlier I used the phrase "strangers from the internet". I've come to believe that playing with strangers from the internet doesn't work. Playing with friends you met on the internet does. Online relationships can be harder to build than face to face relationships, but putting in the effort to get to know these folks is worth the effort. When I know a player, I can call them up when I'm starting a new campaign I think is suited for them. I can predict when they won't be able to make it. I know what campaigns they will enjoy. We can make in context jokes during the game. And we can cheer each other up when someone shows up to game night with a long face and a tale of woe. But it all starts with those silly little questions on where people are from, and what they do with their life. Actually, its not so silly when you're online: people are actually from interesting places you've never been to before, and you never know what they've been doing with their life. <br /><h2>The Players You Want are Out There, But it may Take Time</h2><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M36ygyhjYvA/WQdnGVJ9sWI/AAAAAAAAAXU/hl_qawz3QlcQhHZmSxSmxH1wNNCZLO9FQCLcB/s1600/brassClock.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-M36ygyhjYvA/WQdnGVJ9sWI/AAAAAAAAAXU/hl_qawz3QlcQhHZmSxSmxH1wNNCZLO9FQCLcB/s200/brassClock.png" width="200" /></a>When I started GMing, I made some bad mistakes. I took too many players into my group at once. I played a campaign I really wasn't gung-ho about. I made those mistakes because I was afraid of having no one or only one person show up to game night.&nbsp; The thing is: people will eventually come. If you're being a good GM and worrying about making sure the players are having a good time, the right players will show up. For me it probably took about 12 months. It might have taken less if I knew more about building online groups, and I wasn't sure I had a good group until a few months after that. I have fairly stringent demands: we play for two hours on Tuesday from 7 to 9 central time, and I have a low-combat, high-investigation play style. So I had a reasonably hard slot to fill. But people who wanted and enjoyed that style of game in that time slot were out there, and I eventually found them.<br /><br />I also noticed when looking for players that the school year has a huge effect on things. Remember this and don't be discouraged: your players will come. Just be a good GM and keep trying.<br /><h2>Acknowledgements</h2>I did not figure this all out on my own. I had advice from a number of folks. Some of them were players. Some of them were bloggers. Some of them were forumites. Special credit goes to Mailanka, who reminded me about the GM's duty to make the game work when I was trying get by with the minimum of work. If you haven't checked out <a href="http://mailanka.blogspot.nl/">his blog</a>, you really ought to do so.<br /><br />I hope all the GM's looking for players find them, and I hope all the players looking for good GM's find them as well. The internet is a marvelous thing, if we can only figure out the best ways to use it. Good Luck!Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-43417272738273919552017-02-23T09:45:00.006-08:002017-02-23T09:45:58.462-08:00Vanishing Scout BushVanishing Scout Bushes are a strange breed of creature used as scouts and spies. When they're not fighting, they appear pretty much like a large bush a little bigger than a person, all told. They can even stand up to a little investigation, though it will quickly become apparent that this is no ordinary bush: they have nasty spikes and the woody core of the creature is much thicker than it needs to be.<br /><br />When they stand up for combat, they have a roughly humanoid shape, but covered in thick vegetation. Their fists are tipped in long wooden spikes, and getting hit by one tends to hurt a lot. That said, they really don't like fair fights. They can retreat quite rapidly, and they will do so if faced with serious danger: they're scouts, not warriors. They are cunning enough to appear directly behind foes to strike from behind though.<br /><br />Vanishing Bushes are designed as servitors for some villain. They work well as Fae or as the creation of a wizard. They can also be used as demons or as forest servitors, all with minor adjustments.<br /><br /><table><tbody><tr><td><b>ST</b></td><td>25 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td><b>HP</b></td><td>25 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td><b>Speed</b></td><td>6.5</td> </tr><tr><td><b>DX</b></td><td>14</td><td><b>Will</b></td><td>14</td><td><b>Move</b></td><td>6</td> </tr><tr><td><b>IQ</b></td><td>8</td><td><b>Per</b></td><td>14</td><td></td><td></td> </tr><tr><td><b>HT</b></td><td>12</td><td><b>FP</b></td><td>12</td><td><b>SM</b></td><td>0</td> </tr><tr><td><b> </b></td></tr><tr><td><b>Dodge&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </b></td><td>9(12)</td><td><b>Parry</b></td><td>10</td><td><b>DR</b></td><td>8 (hardened 1)</td> </tr></tbody></table><br /><b>Thorny Fist (14):</b> 2d+3 impaling<br /><br /><b>Teleportation (12): </b>Vanishing Bushes can simply leave their locations, appearing at another. This is utterly silent, and they can do so quickly. They can ignore up to -5 in range or time penalties. They cannot, however, leave an area within 10 yards of any part of a fir tree. A handful of dry needles or a branch of the tree will suffice, but a single needle or old twig will not. If one attempts to teleport into an area with a branch, it will be stunned until it can make an IQ check (yes, that's going to take a while), and then the dread will effect it.<br /><br /><b>Camoflauge</b>: Vanishing Bushes look pretty much like bushes: motionless and quiet. A bystander who isn't on the lookout for non-human foes is at -5 to spot them, and even a wary adventurer looking for general trouble gets a -2 for potentially over looking bushes. Conversely,&nbsp;+2 can be gained by a successful Biology, Naturalist, Gardening, or appropriate hidden lore roll. If the onlooker is familiar with the area, an Per check will reveal the additional bush. A Typical example would be the neighbor's front porch.<br /><br /><i>Traits:</i>&nbsp; 360 degree vision, Chameleon 2 (effects sight and sound), Dark Vision, Doesn't Breath, Doesn't Eat or Drink, Doesn't Sleep, Dread (fir trees), Immunity to Metabolic Hazards, Injury Tolerance (Homogeneous, No Blood), Social Stigma (monster), Warp (blink, weakness: fir trees, no signature, penalty cancelling 5, reliable)<br /><br /><i>Skills:</i> Brawling - 14, Stealth - 16*, teleport - 12, body sense -14, observation -15<br />*includes&nbsp;+2 from chameleon. If the bush is not moving, this bonus is doubled, and the bush has stealth -18. See the camoflague entry.<br /><h2>Build Notes</h2>This monster was created using the Monster Hunters Foe Generator, off the seat of my pants. Most of the time I take a bunch of time when using the generator. On Tuesday I needed a monster off the seat of my pants, and built the monster pretty much during play. Its based on the weak demon from monster hunters 3, plus the special abilities given. I don't think any of the players noticed, because they were busy looking through the park for the demons. I really like the way it turned out.<br /><br />I beefed up the warp a lot, uncapping range, adding blink, and emphasizing the silence. I also dropped the leech (standard) I got in the roll, because it didn't really fit -- though blood sucking plants are a staple of dungeon fantasy.<br /><br />The penalty cancelling 5 is the reliable enhancement, with the condition that it can't actually raise skill. I did this because I didn't want their blink defense to be sky high.<br /><br />I kind of bent the rules with Chameleon. Chameleon has an "extended" enhancement that's normally supposed to apply to infravision, not sound. There is an almost identical advantage called "Silence" that applies to sound. But I wanted both Chameleon and Silence without actually stacking their bonus, so I used the extended enhancement. I'm still looking at how that worked, but I'm feeling happy with it at the moment.<br /><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-23974867871101537222016-11-10T12:46:00.005-08:002016-11-10T12:46:57.157-08:00RPM: Object GrimoiresWho says an RPM Grimoire has to be a book? an item that gives a bonus to a spell being cast is an item that gives a bonus to a spell being cast, but that a book or a banner. Books are a classic way to store magical power, but magical artifacts come in all shapes and sizes. The wheel of time features crystal swords, statues, and bowls. Harry Dresden is always using his bracelet or blasting rod to cast specific effects. And many magic items strengthen specific spells but still require a caster behind them.<br /><h2>How to Use Object Grimoires</h2>Grimoires come with instructions on how to use. Actually, thematically speaking, they are instructions on how to use. Which means that an object grimoire is going to be harder to use... at least until you know what its for and how to use it. Sure this bowl is enchanted... but does it control the winds, the waves, merely predict the weather, aid a comprehensive weather control spell, or aid something completely different like summon a delicious clam chowder?<br /><br />Figuring out what a grimoire object does should be as interesting as translating a dead-language or encrypted grimoire. Hidden Lore and Research have a bigger role to play in doing so. In fact, most of the time, a Hidden Lore or Research role should be followed up by a Thaumatology roll. As a general rule, the Hidden Lore roll should be penalized, but be at +2 or more when compared with a plain research roll. Higher bonuses tend to be easier to find out about (research and hidden lore) but make the Thaumatology roll harder: a +1 amulet of inflicting diarrhea is hardly worth recording in the ancient books of lore, but isn't that hard to figure out, while a +8 change to frog statue is likely to be easy to find out about but hard to figure out the exact magical use.<br /><br />Of course, these are all just suggestions. When purchasing such an item its likely the dealer will know exactly how to use it, or at least be able to point you in the right direction. This will probably effect the price of the item though!<br /><h2>Form and Decoration</h2>If you're not going to get creative with the form of the item, there is little point in not leaving it as an arcane volume. Object grimoires usually are decorated with hints to their purpose and the form is part of the magic. Common forms include&nbsp; jewelry, decorated sticks (staffs, wands), statues,&nbsp; masks, bowls and tools.&nbsp; Its also common for such items to be made out of an expected material: a metal broom or a glass sword. <br /><br />Pay attention to size. While the range of weights given in the RPM book are fine, some grimoire objects can be much bigger or smaller. Of particular interest is great big ones: you may be able to get a 7 foot iron statue grimoire for a great deal, but anytime you want to use it, you have to be at the statue.<br /><h2>Buying Object Grimoires</h2>These grimoires shouldn't cost the same as the standard "I-have-all-the-instructions" book. If the exact function isn't known, that's probably a discount (20%? 40%?). Great big ones will reduce the cost as well, and some GM's may say that the form is more conducive to that kind of magic, giving a bonus.<br /><br />Of course, much of the time an object grimoire will be found when you're searching for a book. One way to use this is as ways to mix up the results of a grimore search. You can choose between the book in akkadian or the silver monkey necklace that puts an awkward 4 lbs hanging from your neck<br /><h2>Using Object Grimoires</h2>This is meant to help you mix up your grimoires, NOT to replace magic items in a campaign. These items still require a mage to use them, and the more powerful the caster, the more powerful the results. They are meant to shake up buying book after book, and to let some of that bizarre crap decorating the witch's shop actually be useful.<br /><br />They're also very useful for magical traditions where writing isn't central. I actually came up with the idea when trying to work out a TL 3 society using RPM and relying heavily on grimoires. I hope you find this idea useful.<br /><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-40166143961157066652016-11-03T07:09:00.001-07:002016-11-03T07:09:54.972-07:00RPM: Path of MachinesI was thinking about RPM in a TL11 setting, and I thought to myself: the path of matter is sure powerful there. It covers nanobots, computers, vehicle transmissions, robotic arms and many other things. Then I asked myself what I would say if one of my players tried to use control matter to hack into computer and get passwords out of it. Or transform matter to change what nanobots did. And what is the proper way to 'awaken' a computer? My solution is the path of machines.<br /><br />The path of Machines is all about complexity. The old definition of a machine may include levers, but the path of machines needs more complexity than that. The path of machines thrives best on computers, engines, speaker systems. One interesting effect of the path of machines is that by default, it works on computer data but not on the written word -- which means written secrets are safer.<br /><br />Machines that are characters in and of themselves (like an AI) resist spells normally. An active caretaker can resist many effects with the appropriate repair or use skill. Signature gear always gets a save. But for the most part, machines don't get resistance rolls. <br /><h2>The effects</h2><b>Sense Machine</b>: lesser sense machine can detect machines, identify a machine,&nbsp; or diagnose a technical problem. Greater sense machine&nbsp; can reveal a machine's purpose or get a password from a computer.<br /><b>Strengthen Machine</b>: Most commonly, this is used to increase the power of a machine, whether it be strengthening a car to get up a hill, increasing the CPU speed on a processor, making a speaker louder, or causing nanobots to act like there are twice as many of them. The difference between greater and lesser strengthen machine is one of magnitude.<br /><b>Restore Machine</b>: can perform complex repairs. Lesser effects require some nods to physically fixing the object and require all the parts and information to be present in some form. Greater effects can repair objects that are missing parts or have had the information on them completely destroyed, and do so instantly.<br /><b>Control Machine</b>: Lesser Control Machine makes the machine do something it could do with the right inputs. It can hijack the output of computers, speakers, and other media, (the resulting output has to come from somewhere though!), steer cars, and open locks. Greater Control Machine can allow a machine to move or act in ways it normally wouldn't be able to. Examples include a car walking on its wheels and a computer delivering an electric shock. Control Machine also works as Control Mind vs. AI's. <br /><b>Destroy Machine</b>: Lesser Destroy machine breaks machines in subtle and believable ways, causing fuel lines to come loose, random computer crashes, and other normal wear and tear (if faster and much more convenient). Greater Destroy machine can erase information from a computer so thoroughly it can't be gotten back or cause mechanical errors that require taking the machine completely apart before putting it back together. <br /><b>Create Machine</b>: Lesser create machine can grant a bonus to assembling or inventing a machine, or copy a machine's effects that the caster has all the information for. For example, lesser create machine could be combined with sense machine to open a lock. Greater create can awaken a computer to sentience, or assemble a machine on its own out of spare parts. It can also emulate a machine <br /><b>Transform Machine</b>: Transforms one machine into another, causing it to do something it was not designed to do. Lesser effects are subtle and still somewhat related to the machine's design, while greater effects can restructure the entire machine into something else.<br /><h2>In the Campaign</h2>This path is very much designed for a high tech game, and isn't recommended for TL's less than 6. Though it could be used in a TL4 world to create clockwork constructs (effectively TL4+2^ or even higher!) It will shine best in world with lots of computers, vehicles, and machine-type weapons (like guns).<br /><br />I hope you find this idea useful! <br /><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-82115965610741601852016-10-26T07:16:00.001-07:002016-10-26T07:31:35.755-07:00Blog or Treat: Remembrance Thief<br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vdpwWRbSevQ/WA5iLO8fFaI/AAAAAAAAAVE/XVXgg-p61GEstNPMNKq830gwdHB9EKaWQCLcB/s1600/FaeDemonVampireQuestion.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vdpwWRbSevQ/WA5iLO8fFaI/AAAAAAAAAVE/XVXgg-p61GEstNPMNKq830gwdHB9EKaWQCLcB/s320/FaeDemonVampireQuestion.png" width="277" /></a>Perhaps one of my favorite posts on this blog is also my oldest: <a href="http://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2014/12/monster-hunters-demons-and-fae.html">Demons and Fae</a>. It examines the demon variety chart in <a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/monsterhunters/monsterhunters3/">Monster Hunters 3 </a>(page 19) and talks about how it can&nbsp; expanded and used to create Fae. It also talks about how a single monster concept can be used for multiple monster types, and it inspired me to actually <a href="http://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2014/12/monster-generation-traits.html">write an expanded table </a>and build a <a href="http://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2015/03/monster-hunters-foe-generator.html">generator so you don't have to roll 50 dice to get answers</a>.<br /><br />This monster was generated using those tools and posts, but this time I'm not picking a monster type: I'm showing how the monster can a demon, an evil fae, or a type of vampire. I hope you find the monster evocative.<br /><br />The monster is focused on Monster Hunters, as the original posts and the book that inspired the creature are focused there, but it can fit in variety of campaigns, particularly standard horror.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><h2>The Monster </h2>Remembrance Thieves prey upon the dearest memories of their victims, finding the nearest and dearest things to their hearts and stealing them away to fuel its arcane life. They can't actually destroy the emotions that tie people together, but they eagerly consume and destroy the specific memories that do so, emptiness and general mental damage in its place.<br /><br />Remembrance Thieves spend much of their time in the form of small animals seeking to gain access to prey. Each one has only one form: The most common include Rats, Ravens, Spiders, Bats, and Snakes. In all cases the animal will look particularly repulsive, even for its species.<br /><br />The monster cannot enter a private residence without being invited in, and unlike vampires, have no form acceptable to do so, and a welcome mat does not suffice. Being carried inside is a valid tactic, and many remembrance thieves like to try and stow away on luggage.<br /><br />Once inside, the creature hides until night, when it manifests as its true form: a grotesque gargoyle like monster with gleaming eyes. It perches on beds and peruses through the minds of its victims, looking for a memory to steal. This requires either physical contact or 10 minutes of perching within 2 yards of a sleeping victim's head. The perching method give the thief +4 to its roll. In its search for for juicy memories, its likely to come across all sorts of facts about the person.<br /><br />Actually stealing a memory only takes 1 second, but the creatures will rummage around in a mind for up to an hour at a time, looking for more memories to steal. Once again, the thief gets +4 to its roll if its properly perched.<br /><br />Remembrance thieves are supernaturally hard to recognize, as they cloud thoughts about them: even in plain sight, a perception check is required to see one, and if they're trying to hide, they receive a +10 to their roll. This is a supernatural effect that can be countered by someone who knows what they are dealing with via a will roll, or counter measures to mind effecting magic. Once noticed, a remembrance thief stays in the mind, though they usually attack or flee once that happens.<br /><h2>What are These Things?</h2>The creature type of a Remembrance thief has intentionally been left vague. This is intentional, because the fluff can fit so many kinds of supernatural creature. All are malevolent, but the above will remain true for all of them. The type also will effect how the stolen memories manifest themselves, and how to counter the effects. It will also effect the combat afterwards...<br /><br />Fighting a remembrance thief&nbsp; is almost a different encounter than discovering and tracking it down. Yes, it should probably be a challenging fight, but combat stats should be a campaign dependent decision. And combat stats really aren't core to this monster: in this case its about the hunt, not the fight.<br /><h2>Demon</h2><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7VYnpjZ68LE/WA5iOhMFoTI/AAAAAAAAAVI/UZONfr5i7a0LkznWTRUaYSmUoYFb-lwMwCLcB/s1600/g3829.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-7VYnpjZ68LE/WA5iOhMFoTI/AAAAAAAAAVI/UZONfr5i7a0LkznWTRUaYSmUoYFb-lwMwCLcB/s200/g3829.png" width="200" /></a>The most malevolent option, demons live to cause pain and suffering in others. Nights when a demonic remembrance thief visit are likely to be fraught with nightmares and be less than restful. Thoughts taken will be the ones likely to cause the victim the most confusion and suffering. Long term damage may take the form of madness, anger, and turning on all they once loved.<br /><br />In a monster hunters game, choose a weak or strong demon, as appropriate, but always give them wings and claws. Demonic variety should probably be toned down for the type, as two powerful several abilities are already included! (Mind Probe, Alternate Form, and the resistance to being noticed). It would be an unusual remembrance thief that made it to Demon Lord Status, but they're sneaky enough that the demon may be able to limit its interactions to one or two hunters at a time.&nbsp; <br /><h2>Vampire</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MOdsawn6_Zo/WA5iOoUeg3I/AAAAAAAAAVM/7Zu2nZ2u-sENNganAUTRpZftk682i72cACLcB/s1600/g3889.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-MOdsawn6_Zo/WA5iOoUeg3I/AAAAAAAAAVM/7Zu2nZ2u-sENNganAUTRpZftk682i72cACLcB/s200/g3889.png" width="165" /></a></div>Yes, there are more vampires than the ones that suck blood! These ones suck memories. Leech&nbsp; requires a failed quick contest of wills, but gets the +4 for a proper perch. Symptoms of a victim include the lost memories, but also general weakening and fatigue: the vampire doesn't just take the memory, but the victim's very life energy. While there are no physical marks of the damage, the loss of life energy is real. Vampire remembrance thieves are more likely to be subtle about the thoughts they take: they need lots of them, and they don't want to loose their meal ticke. <br /><br />This is an unusual vampire, arguably being a different kind of undead. Some classic vampire weaknesses, like the repulsion to garlic, should probably be dropped. The sunlight vulnerability may or may not be kept: its not needed for the monster, but is still an interesting limitation, and most can just hide under a log in their animal form. They make more vampires when they kill their victim by draining all of their energy. Such vampires will have no memories of their former self at all.<br /><br />Stat as you would a vampire: a variety of templates out there. Particularly nasty vampires may have a human looking form as well as the grotesque perching form.<br /><h2>Fae</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mEf7c2z_feU/WA5iOqs-lTI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/yOFnGh09ujsJVahTgms0ii1jHsvk8YbRwCLcB/s1600/g4003.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-mEf7c2z_feU/WA5iOqs-lTI/AAAAAAAAAVQ/yOFnGh09ujsJVahTgms0ii1jHsvk8YbRwCLcB/s200/g4003.png" width="181" /></a></div>This is probably the 'strait' way to build a remembrance thief. An evil creature that craves the thoughts of others, the faerie damages the memories of its victim. While it does less physical trauma than a vampire and don't inflict overt mental effects like a demon, that just means that more memories are stolen before the victim notices. Victims are likely to fall away from activities, places, and people they love, and often enter depression. Fae are seeking the memories themselves, and tend to target the most poignant and meaningful first. They also tend to take more than they "need".<br /><br />In a monster hunters game, build as a you would a demon, but flavor it as a fae. Substitute normal demonic weaknesses for Iron and other weaknesses in your setting (which may or may not include holy attacks).<br /><h2>The Pieces you Need:</h2>So what are the actual stats for this thing? Well, first pick a template that fits the faerie, demon, or vampire. Then apply the following traits: <br /><ul><li>Mind Probe&nbsp;</li><li>Mind Probe (Ranged, Reliable +4, reduced range 1/5, 1 minute immediate preparation required, only when perched above sleeping victim) </li><li>Alternate Form (Choose a small animal, reduced time *1/5, 2 seconds)</li><li>Divine Curse (Cannot&nbsp; enter buildings 'uninvited')</li><li>Affliction (Amnesia, one memory only)</li><li>Obscure (Defensive, Stealthy, Resistible, Mind effecting, Magic)</li></ul><br />And you have your remembrance thief!<br /><h2>So Which Kind?</h2>I hope you enjoyed your options. What will you build the thief as? A gluttonous fae? A new form of subtle vampire to shake up the game? or as a malevolent demon aiming for madness rather than death?<br /><br />Happy Halloween! Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-73283866228159873722016-10-17T18:44:00.000-07:002016-10-17T18:44:58.536-07:0010 Points of Flavor<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NUGaqkPdH3s/V6N8o35HMEI/AAAAAAAAAP0/k2N8Z8AZzz4DDRXZRybBhc_C_4y_3R3mQCLcB/s1600/fireExtinguisher.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-NUGaqkPdH3s/V6N8o35HMEI/AAAAAAAAAP0/k2N8Z8AZzz4DDRXZRybBhc_C_4y_3R3mQCLcB/s200/fireExtinguisher.jpg" width="200" /></a>In my recent games I've started giving out '10 points of flavor'. These are to be spent on things the player doesn't expect the character to use. I view them as a tool for fleshing out a character, and hopefully for reducing the tension between building a realistic character and working with a low point budget.<br /><br />&nbsp;What people buy with these points varies. Area knowledge (home) is a common choice. Its only valid if the action doesn't take place their, but it lends a fair amount of flavor. I've seen an awful lot of people buy games. The specialization is usually video games, table top games, or chess. High Academic skills often get thrown in: I had one guy buy History (Occidental magical traditions), and musical skills are common. Animal handling (dogs) is another favorite, used by dog lovers. Cooking and housekeeping show up as day to day skills. I've also seen things like driving in a campaign where the planet is covered in ice (and thus snow mobiles are used). I think the weirdest one I've seen has been Professional Skill (Fire extinguisher maintenance).<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zau-F0L_hrY/maxresdefault.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="112" src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/zau-F0L_hrY/maxresdefault.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Some players have let these skills fall by the wayside, while others have used them well. I had one character who learned a new musical instrument on each world he visited. He, like the chess player, used it to build friendships with NPC's. The fire extinguisher maintenance guy actually used his skill -- as a cover to explain why he was nosing around a school. Each time one of these skills has been used, its been a very satisfying moment.<br /><br />Some players have struggled with these points, and I've come to start saying that spending them is optional -- I don't want to force additional character building stress on those who don't want it. Others will try to use the points for things that are secondary to character focus but quite useful skills. I kind of like character building, so its not a huge deal for me, but it does add one more thing for the GM to check.<br /><br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wSKfllOk-HY/V6N9LoKJjzI/AAAAAAAAAP4/OSPb14eajnEg9V0cNLBSNZjJH7O5_UbkACLcB/s1600/Chess_Played.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wSKfllOk-HY/V6N9LoKJjzI/AAAAAAAAAP4/OSPb14eajnEg9V0cNLBSNZjJH7O5_UbkACLcB/s200/Chess_Played.jpg" width="200" /></a>One thing I've found essential is to emphasize that these points are FREE and to refer to the game as '120 plus fluff', not 130 point games. This really helps the player buy in, as you are offering bonuses, not restricting their precious budget. With that in mind, 90 +10 probably isn't the way you want to do this: if you choose a round number as the total rather than the base players will feel that that the point weren't free after all. <br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-n5huvjJgvbc/V6N7hN54wsI/AAAAAAAAAPs/rIFKl920HPIJA6I2hxr_5WIUVahnKz0CgCLcB/s1600/10_360pt.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br /></a></div><br />I've enjoyed the results, for the most part. It takes a certain type of player, but I look for those types of players anyways. I recommend this method to anyone who wants to see more depth in characters, or to find out a little more about their back grounds. Just a thought. I've enjoyed this technique greatly.<br /><br />Happy Character Building!<br /><br /><br /><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-40515069098164915932016-10-12T08:06:00.000-07:002016-10-13T09:15:21.206-07:00Lawmen Of Borlo: Reflections on Setting ChoicesI just finished my "Lawmen of Borlo" game, and last post I talked about how gameplay went. Today I'm going to look at the setting decisions and work I put into it, and how they turned out.<br /><br />The things that went best were the way I handled races (which was a trick to get right), and the FTL system (which never got used). The books I actually ended up using were interesting, and there were some places where I did too much work, or too little. I also let the standard adventure be something I didn't plan. In this case, it worked well, but that fact is worth being cautious of in the future.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><h2>Racial Builds</h2><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://houseofgeekery.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/shazam11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://houseofgeekery.files.wordpress.com/2015/04/shazam11.jpg" width="205" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">favorite race.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>The Setting was pantropic, and I offered a variety of races to the players at hefty discounts (usually 10 or 20 points for 50 to 80 point templates rendered somewhat redundant by tech), and said if they wanted anything to just let me know. They didn't go for any of the races I suggested, but they did go ahead and add races of their own. The face man went for a 'secretary race', which got off the shelf looks, the ability to speak and hear even odd forms of language, and heavy stereotyping by others. We had one guy go for a cutting edge 'sensor suite' race. The most popular race was giant snow-cat men though. I had provided a race suited for the cold, but it ended up being completed eclipsed by the much more stylish option of looking like a tiger.<br /><br />The races didn't prove to be broken at all, in some part because the game was very combat light. We had two people who were arrested when two different ST 15 snow cats tackled them. The races didn't include any DX or IQ, and talents were rare. Instead they had lots of fur, increased senses and strength, temperature tolerance, and other abilities less about skill and more about exotic abilities.<br /><br />The setting was in part inspired by the "Blue Planet" setting, particularly as far as their races went. I don't think I got the buy in I wanted, and in particular no one went for under-sea templates. Of course, I then flubbed and didn't stick any of the cases underwater, so who's fault is that really?<br /><br />The races were cued in on by the players, and they made sure they know what everyone was: shock trooper, snowcat, or&nbsp; jungle-worlder. So that part was a success. And the races actually helped in ruling out suspects gauging capabilities, and so forth.&nbsp; I consider this a success, and may write about making such templates more.<br /><h2>FTL</h2>FTL was a tricky situation. I wanted hard science, pantropic humans, and the simultaneous feeling of a rush and remoteness.<br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/M101_hires_STScI-PRC2006-10a.jpg/1280px-M101_hires_STScI-PRC2006-10a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="250" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/c5/M101_hires_STScI-PRC2006-10a.jpg/1280px-M101_hires_STScI-PRC2006-10a.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>The pantropic humans were actually a tricky set of requirements. It meant that 'garden' worlds needed to be easily accessible to colonists, leading to large amounts of land. That went well with my frontier theme. It meant that getting across the galaxy couldn't take too long or be that expensive.<br />And yet I needed a sense of remoteness, so that my rush lasted longer than a single week. Communication was easy enough to cut (courier ship only), but I needed to make travel unreliable. And once I hit upon making travel unreliable, the solution presented itself.<br /><br />The FTL system was capable of huge jumps at a time, but with unreliable accuracy. Each jump took a few days. You'd jump to the general vicinity of your target, then jump again, getting closer (but still not quite there). The numbers I gave were jumping across the galaxy in a month, but to get somewhere specific on the other side took two months. I made it so some locations (black holes and an artificial point at earth) had added accuracy, but that only helped in getting to a few specific places.<br /><br />The system worked. I did the math on it because I'm a world builder, but it never came into play. The facts above did come up though, again and again. It was important for players to know how isolated they were or weren't. The spaceport was an important location, even though players never left the system, and I had answers for why things were so. This let characters not only buy into the isolation, but to extrapolate and make decisions based on it. <br /><h2>Neighboring Planets and Biospheres</h2>I rolled up some neighboring planets and biospheres. Ok, I rolled up 8 of them. And none of them got used. Not even Borlo. I didn't include any wild-life, and the general temperature of a planet is not a good way to do weather, which ended up being GM fiat. As far as the game is concerned, Borlo is a whole planet of arctic. And that's it. <br /><br />We did pay attention to the weather though: blizzards were important for the villains covering tracks, and the players were constantly checking satellite observation for the motions of suspects. I just focused in on the wrong parts of the setting.<br /><br />Ironically, we did end up having to create other planets, but these were as extradition targets. The players found one of their best bargaining chip was which legal system they shipped world-hopping criminals off to. <br /><h2>Plots</h2>Lawmen of Borlo didn't start out as a mystery setting. I intended for it to be a hard science adventure game. However, I told the players combat was not the focus of the game and they came prepared with the sheets for detectives. A bunch of PC's actually acted like their nominal jobs and careers. I tweaked just slightly to match and we had fun hunting down criminals. I can't say I really planned this. It worked though, and it helped to have a clear sense of what the players were doing.<br /><br />Planning out how the crime happened and why was a must, but that's true for any good mystery.<br /><h2>What Books did I use?</h2>The most useful books in building the setting were Bio-tech, Blue Planet, and Campaigns. Ultratech and Space also figure: I referenced them a lot, but the material I got out of them was not as helpful as I hoped it would be..<br /><a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/blueplanet/img/cover_lg.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/blueplanet/img/cover_lg.jpg" height="320" width="242" /></a><br />I cannot sing enough praise of the hidden corners of campaigns. I need to reread it, because it bailed me out a few times, particularly with ultratech. The most notable was stats for vehicles: The tech books had blingy impractical stuff, not the snowmobiles that showed up all over the place. We ended up converting a motorcycle and calling it that. I also went looking for some of the "common place" prospecting equipment, and ended up having to make that up as well. The game ended up feeling quite modern in places, tech-wise, with snowmobiles, smartphones, and forensics. In some ways it was TL8 + space and biotech. <br /><br />Blue Planet is the father of this game. I will probably never play an actual blue-planet game, but the pantropic setting, the "gold rush" type setting, and the tech paradigm are all inspired by reading that book, and I will regard this as my blue-planet game. The book was never brought up in play, but without it the game would not exist.<br /><br />Biotech was also a work-horse. While very little statistics were used, it provided the window dressing for everything. Where blue planet suggested, biotech confirmed. It's contributions were primarily racial and economic... which meant it was everywhere, and the players saw it in action.<br /><br />Space is interesting. I didn't consult it much other than planet and alien generation, which as I said above, didn't get used much. On the other hand, I've used the book thourougly before, so it may be I've already internalized it. It certainly contributed to my FTL decisions, as described above. But the book never actually came out (I converted its generators to other formats long ago).<br /><br />So what books do you need? I have two conclusions. First: you only need basic. Really, you can do anything with basic. But two: You need inspiration. And the books are a fantastic place for inspiration. So keep reading. <br /><h2>How much of the setting did I actually use? </h2>I put a good amount of work into the setting. How much did I actually use? maybe a quarter. Maybe less. But I found that a good deal of what I designed was good for answering player questions, and for understanding how the world worked. This campaign featured a lot of interaction with the political and economic situation of the setting, and the good work was necessary for this game. <br /><br />In retrospect, much of the extra work I did was because I didn't understand what I was going to be doing with the setting. Which is a lesson! don't make what you don't need! On the other hand, much of the work was setting, not campaign. Once I started designing the campaign, I didn't do too much I didn't need.<br /><br />I have lots of settings laying about, and I may never use Borlo again. Or maybe not. I have a lot of settings waiting around to be used. That's part of the reason I started this blog. But one thing I learned from borlo is that its worth going for settings that get you excited. A setting you aren't excited about will be a burden. A setting that gets you thinking is a hobby. Which is what this whole thing is supposed to be.<br /><br />I hope you find these thoughts helpful. Happy gaming. Or world-building!Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-69270152347027774712016-09-29T13:42:00.001-07:002016-09-29T13:42:03.984-07:00Lawmen Of Borlo: Reflections on GameplayI just finished a campaign: Lawmen of Borlo. Its an interesting time when you finish a campaign and move on to a new one, and a good time to consider what went well and what didn't. This is also a big learning experience for me, because its only my second roll20 gurps campaign.<br /><br />The campaign premise was: <br /><blockquote class="tr_bq">The planet of Borlo was a backwater for over 40 years. Then about 3 weeks ago, a citizen found alien ruins-- the first alien ruins to be had in humanities long and lonely search of the stars. Now there is a rush like has not been seen for centuries: men and women are flooding into a formerly barren wasteland in search of wealth.</blockquote>The PC's were planetary marshals given cases to solve, spread out over the planet. They solved two cases, each with multiple stages of finding suspects. They did pretty well, all things considered: of the 9 criminals they chased, one was left with a warning and remained a police informant, three got comparatively light sentencing (all in exchange for names and&nbsp; or testimony), one got away, and four got hit hard.<br /><h2>Things the Players Enjoyed</h2>Negotiating with prisoners was a large part of the game, and one the players really seemed to enjoy. A lot of the time you never know if an NPC is going to grab their attention or not, but each time they picked up a batch of crooks, one of them grabbed the attention of the PC's, and they connected with a string of criminals, and actually cared about what happened to them in the end -- even if&nbsp; 'cared' means 'I want to make sure you don't get off with a lite sentence'! A good part of this was how much work they put into figuring out who the NPC was before they ever met them. PC's generally connect with NPC's they remember, and making the goal of the adventure finding someone is a good way to make them memorable.<br /><br />I insisted that players come up with the questions to ask, rather than just rolling against, say... computer operation and finding out everything they needed to know. This was intentional stylistic choice for a cops game. It really helped to bring the world to life -- players cared about the details, and we had lots of fun extrapolating what WOULD be known in a given science fiction situation.&nbsp; It also helped to keep players involved -- one player usually had the spotlight, but everyone else was thinking of questions they wanted asked. This isn't for every game, but I highly suggest it for a mystery game.<br /><h2>GMing Lessons</h2>This game saw a bit of player drama. And I finally bit the bullet and realized that my job as a GM is NOT about merely presenting adventures, but about balancing personality issues, ensuring that everyone else speaks up, and generally being the social grease. This is not something that I wanted do. I wish I could just play a character called "The world" and present challenges for the players.<br /><br />I'm glad I bit that bullet. Its helped with the game a lot, and its helped build that camaraderie between players I've always assumed was natural. If you are trying to GM or looking for a GM, you are there as much to help the players get along as you are to present a world. The good news is that gaming culture gives you the tools to make that easy, and it actually hasn't been that much work. It was just essential for me to realize that its my job, no one else will do it, and when you have a grab bag of players off the internet, it needs to be done. <br /><br />Why didn't I pick this up before? Well, my prior GM experience is either on PbP, which tends to minimize personal issues in favor of the game (typing is much more expensive than talking), or with my relatives. And with the relatives I played with, I'm pretty much the alpha by dint of age and longstanding relationships. And everyone knows each other really well.<br /><br />I also started keeping track of time this game. It worked really well, added an aspect of management, and helped in organizing NPC actions. I'll probably continue to do it.<br /><br />The other big lesson was: Play what you want to play. When I started playing on roll20, I intentionally went with 'popular' (meaning common) options with the intent to switch to something I personally wanted more later. I don't think I got more interest with the generic, and I certainly had a lot more. So I'm going to play what I want to play.<br /><br />This isn't to say that "bad games" don't exist. Many ideas won't be valid, or will require extra out of your players.&nbsp; Before you go ahead and play, make sure its a good idea that will be fun for everyone. but that has very little to do with setting, and more to do with making sure the focus is still on the players and they can have fun. So from now on, I'm saying goodby to generic and playing in whatever setting I please! (which is not to say that players don't get a say. I've been vetting multiple ideas and giving them a choice first). <br /><h2>Things I enjoyed</h2>I learned that I get tired of playing in the same setting for too long. Last game I played I was all played out by the end. I still needed to finish the mission, and if you're tired of a game, it can really drag. This time I watched for that effect, and ended the campaign before it got old. This let me do a proper ending, and we had a nice 30 minutes at the end where we talked about what happened to each of the characters after the campaign.<br /><br />The PC's had lots of decisions, and the combination of "you can do anything" and "you're supposed to be doing this" was fun to watch. They tracked down people out of order, caught me by surprise, and completely missed possibilities. This was entertaining to watch in a way that combat just can't match.<br /><br />It was also really nice to watch players get immersed in the setting, and understand where they were and what the world was like. I think the key was to make those things matter to the plot.<br /><br />Last of all, and I'll talk about this in a later post, I ran a game with two minor combats that still remained tense and engaging. I don't enjoy slaughter fests, and I consider doing a non-combat-oriented game in real time with multiple players to be a personal success. Ironically, lives WERE at stake. They just weren't decided by who had fancier gun-play.<br /><h2>Things I Could Have Done Better</h2>We had a player than kept notes. It was in many cases a life-saver: we'd start each session by reading the notes that he took and that would usually be enough to jog my memory. I could have kept my private notes better. A GM has a lot that he's doing, but in this case, I think we would have had a stronger game if I had kept more than the most minimal of notes. This became very apparent when our note-keeper couldn't make a session, and we had to remember what happened earlier. <br /><br />I also have come to the conclusion that player knowledge of numbers matters. Secret rolls may be ominous, but there is a strength to declaring exactly what a PC needs in order to succeed or fail. In some ways hidden rolls can make GMing easier, but I'm realizing its a crutch. Game-play is about making decisions, and without information, there is no decision.&nbsp; So I'm going to need to work on that. <br /><h2>In Conclusion</h2>I learned a lot, and I enjoyed the campaign. While I pride myself as a setting builder, I'm a newbie GM. I'll soon be putting up info on setting, and a few more thoughts inspired by the campaign.<br /><br />I hope you can learn from my mistakes. <br /><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-22577021556287194642016-09-08T12:37:00.002-07:002016-09-08T12:37:24.357-07:00Seige CrabSiege Crabs are massive beasts bred, cursed, enchanted, or who knows what else by some wizard as weapons of war. They're actually a fairly practical design if one wishes to take a castle. They look like your typical great hulking monster with too much armor and too little speed, but adventurers not expecting them are in for a few surprises. The first, and this really shouldn't be a surprise, is that while they move from place to place slowly they're quite agile in hand to hand combat. The second is that they climb walls like a much smaller creature. The third, and nastiest, is the reverse missiles spell they generate. Most adventurers will think "Big Slow Ugly" and start shooting at the thing, only to have their attacks fly back in their face.<br /><br />Seige crabs&nbsp; are territorial and generally try to drive intruders off. They'll happily munch on the remains of foe, but for the most part they'll leave fleeing intruders alone. They do have an instinct to get to high ground and to assault heavily fortified positions, so Adventurers who think they're safe for the night may find a crabby monster trying to drive them out. <br /><br /><table><tbody><tr><td><b>ST</b></td><td>30 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td><b>HP</b></td><td>30&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </td><td><b>Speed</b></td><td>7</td> </tr><tr><td><b>DX</b></td><td>14</td><td><b>Will</b></td><td>14</td><td><b>Move</b></td><td>3</td> </tr><tr><td><b>IQ</b></td><td>3</td><td><b>Per</b></td><td>11</td><td></td><td></td> </tr><tr><td><b>HT</b></td><td>14</td><td><b>FP</b></td><td>12</td><td><b>SM</b></td><td>2</td> </tr><tr><td><b> </b></td></tr><tr><td><b>Dodge&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </b></td><td>8</td><td><b>Parry</b></td><td>12</td><td><b>DR</b></td><td>10</td> </tr></tbody></table><b>Slice (14)</b>: 3d+3 cutting, -1 to defenses. Is considered a grapple against a foe that it hits.<br /><b>Pound (14)</b>: 3d+3 crushing, -1 to defenses.<br /><i>Traits</i>: Constriction Attack, Reverse missiles Spell, Extra Attack 1, magic resistance 2, 2 strikers (reach 1,C)<br /><i>Skills</i>: Brawling - 16, Climbing -18,<br /><i>Class</i>: Dire Animal<br /><i>Notes</i>: Not Sapient. Seige Crab carpaces can fetch $200 dollars as raw materials, and they have Prothoratic Mana Organs that power the reverse missiles effect. If you can get these out, they're worth $ 1000, but the thaumatology roll is at -2. Its a tricky job! Siege Crab eggs are worth about $100 a piece, but transporting them back requires precautions not to stunt the magic of the creatures (Thaumatology roll), and odds are that half&nbsp; or more of them are dead already! A successful Naturalist or Thaumatology roll can identify which ones are good and which ones aren't.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4f6Rh419Ado/V8iAqYdz8CI/AAAAAAAAAT8/gkWNG1rZDCsyVjUYP_kfgm0Q_0Cch2eugCLcB/s1600/crab.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4f6Rh419Ado/V8iAqYdz8CI/AAAAAAAAAT8/gkWNG1rZDCsyVjUYP_kfgm0Q_0Cch2eugCLcB/s640/crab.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">But bigger. Much Bigger</td></tr></tbody></table><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-42767865221242181972016-09-01T07:06:00.001-07:002016-09-01T07:13:52.874-07:00Thoughs on Realm MagicRealm magic promises simplicity. But requires some GM work. It sometimes feels like a different game. Does it deliver? Is it balanced?<br /><br />I'm looking at a number of different ways to use realm magic, and comparing it with some of the other systems gurps has.&nbsp; I have the thought process behind very small magic system I built using the stub of a realm system (<a href="http://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/2016/08/the-refuges-stornuso-stars-in-ocean.html">phage magic</a>), the skeleton of a much larger system I've used in the past, and thoughts on realm magic on the wing. I also compare realm magic with the standard system and look at how 'Gurpsy' the whole thing is, and how its really at the root of RPM. <br /><h2>Phage Magic</h2><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IapUCjA5bTg/V6DqB2l6mGI/AAAAAAAAAOk/8BdCtzbkpr0RChkCdspwTMnwYCwhl7A6wCPcB/s1600/Stornuso.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-IapUCjA5bTg/V6DqB2l6mGI/AAAAAAAAAOk/8BdCtzbkpr0RChkCdspwTMnwYCwhl7A6wCPcB/s320/Stornuso.png" width="320" /></a>When I built phage magic for Stornuso, I had a very small subset of magic I needed a price for.&nbsp; In the post I 'estimated the number of realms at 12' and moved on. Here is the actual thought process I used in the estimation:<br /><br />All of my realms so far were energy based: <b>light</b>, <b>heat</b>, and <b>motion</b>. Rather than come up with every single realm, I figured I'd do the realm of energy and then figure just as many categories in each 'sister' category of energy. I divided up into <b>Energy</b>, <b>Matter</b>, and <b>Mind/knowledge</b>. I felt confident I could put any effect into one of these. Then I tried to think of other categories in energy. At the time, All I came up with was electromagnetism. I debated using life energy, but threw that out. Looking back, I would have done it the other way around, but the point is we had four energy realms, and then two more categories (presumably) the same size gives us a total of 12 realms.<br /><br />Then I had to decide on levels. I noticed the limits I had placed where that the magic took time, had to happen right next to the mage, and no creation of energy was allowed. That was 3 upgrades that theoretical future levels could give, for a total of four levels. So I decided my 40 point total would be split up into four pieces, and assigned each ability the cost of 10 points each.<br /><br />Did it deliver? well, it gave me a number, and all things told, the number wasn't that hard to get and it doesn't look unbalanced&nbsp; <br /><h2>Standard Magic</h2><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r0di719udk4/V8gxHBEnfqI/AAAAAAAAATY/5hqe-8HXTiUu8jhYFXqBF_Kt4RHn7VMsACLcB/s1600/MagicCover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-r0di719udk4/V8gxHBEnfqI/AAAAAAAAATY/5hqe-8HXTiUu8jhYFXqBF_Kt4RHn7VMsACLcB/s320/MagicCover.png" width="271" /></a></div>An interesting comparison is comparing standard magic to realm magic. The standard magic system is divided up into colleges -- 24 of them to be exact. This is well over 12, which means we use 60 x 1/2 = 30 points for each category. 30 points to know every spell in a standard magic college, plus any that may be made up.<br /><br />That's... actually not too bad. Particularly if we're using the 6 level system the book provides. Its probably a little more expensive than buying all of the spells you actually want individually, but you get the benefit of the doubt on what you can do. And at 5 points per level per realm, character building is looking pretty simple. It also provides us with what is probably better balance than the standard system, with cherry picking spells no longer on the table. Spell energy cost, the primary balancing component of the standard system, remains pretty much the same or exactly the same if you use that option. <br /><h2>Is Realm Magic Still Gurps?</h2>In some ways, realm magic feels like a cop-out to many (including sometimes to me). Gurps has traditionally been about being able to both do everything and retain concrete effects and prices. Gurps is good at the blow by blow detail oriented aspect of gaming. In matters when someone gets punched in the face as opposed kicked in the stomach. So does realm magic betray us with its fluffy 'any effect within this range'?<br /><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2RH7aIa4CHg/V8gxyuiYiBI/AAAAAAAAATc/3hL7hEMPaSEbYZsJyFEqi_DHLcqPCwoQwCLcB/s1600/gurps-logo.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2RH7aIa4CHg/V8gxyuiYiBI/AAAAAAAAATc/3hL7hEMPaSEbYZsJyFEqi_DHLcqPCwoQwCLcB/s1600/gurps-logo.png" /></a><br />I'm going to have to say that its very much gurps.&nbsp; Realm magic still requires discrete, distinct effects. You still pay energy for those effects, and it still takes a distinct amount of time. In fact, RPM, which feels like a gurps-like system, is based in part on realm magic. Actually, the crunchiest part, the building of the cost of a ritual, is the part that takes the most from the rules for realm magic. Does it still sound wimpy and fluffy and narrative-based? It certainly earns its way back.<br /><br />No, its not as developed as RPM. RPM is a worked example with the realms per-chosen, a lot of options toggled, and with a more robust pricing system, but it still has as one of two main roots realm magic. The great difference between RPM and proper realm magic using energy gathering is that you don't pay for the realms, but the skills are harder than you'd expect and quite difficult to raise. Which means that RPM is generally more finicky about balance than proper realm magic. So if you love RPM, at least go back, look at the realms, and see if it doesn't change the way you feel about one system or the other. <br /><br />As for whether crunch means gurps, no it doesn't. Its not the powers system, but only one powers system really is, or two if you count sorcery seperate from magic as powers. And realms gives you all you need to build a much more complex system. <br /><h2>Techno Magic</h2>When I first got Thaumatology, I was exploring gurps and I somehow got the feeling that the technomancer setting should use the standard magic system. Yes, I know, I maligned the poor system and tried to replace in in an area where it was literally the base of the setting. And I got my hands on realm magic.&nbsp; Actually, I was pointed towards it by Faolyn on the GURPS Forum.<br /><br />I had three types of realms:<br /><b>Energy:</b> Heat, Motion, Electromagnetism, Fuel, Mana, Life<br /><b>Matter:</b> Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, Metal, Synthetic, Elemental<br /><b>Thought:</b> Mind, Computer, Demon, Measurement, Meta-Magic <br /><br />I forbade prediction of the future and creation, added magery ability that decreased distance costs, built some tables for converting between various forms of energy and the various difficulties of doing different things, and so forth. I ended up with the following costs:<br /><br />magery (raw power): [5/level]<br />energy : [4/level]<br />matter : [4/level]<br />Intellect Magic: [3/level]<br />Measurement Magic: [3/level]<br />Meta Magic: [7.5/level]<br /><br />I've used it in various places, and it feels modern, complex, and reasonably balanced. The thread where I did it is <a href="http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=111868">here</a>, though I may do a proper write up in the future.<br /><h2>Just Winging It</h2><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PVOxCPG5Axk/V8gxFTpV_DI/AAAAAAAAATU/9gQS_nvBsvo6rYzGXI5X-NU93M8QBAQsACLcB/s1600/thaumatologyCover.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PVOxCPG5Axk/V8gxFTpV_DI/AAAAAAAAATU/9gQS_nvBsvo6rYzGXI5X-NU93M8QBAQsACLcB/s320/thaumatologyCover.png" width="224" /></a>Recently I saw a thread on how to stat up stone-age gods without everything getting too complicated. It was suggested to just use realm magic. My first thought was 'that sounds perfect'! The person actually running the game shied away from using it, but its still worth considering realm magic when building fast and loose characters.<br /><br />I've never actually run or played a game where that happened. But it sounds like something that would work really well. The biggest problem is figuring out the right point cost for realms. You don't have time to figure out the entirety of the realm system, because you're winging it. Estimate the size of the realm, and then think about how forgiving the realm is. In some cases its helpful to think in terms of colleges from magic. Is the realm bigger than a college? how about 4 colleges? remember that colleges usually overlap. If the realm includes transmutations or effects that would be cross college, you may need to expand your estimate. When you have your estimate, divide 24 by that number and you have a number of realms to base the price on.<br /><h2>Did it Deliver?</h2>We've looked at 4 different ways realm magic can be done. Were they simple? I would say they're simple enough. More to the point, they did things no other system let us do. Just as they give flexible effects, they also give a flexible set of parameters to work with. At the same time, they're at least as balanced as standard magic or RPM ... and probably more so. These aren't exactly the Gold standard for balance in gurps, but they are "good enough". And when you get down to the details, yes! this is gurps. Stats in real numbers, point costs, and oodles of customization.<br /><h2>So Why Don't People Use it More?</h2>I would say simply because its in the least accessible part of a very dense (but awesome book). I did not pick up on realm magic the first time I read it. I was too excited about threshold magic, book/path magic, and ritual magic and too disinterested in noun-verb magic to really soak in this system. Which is really a gem. Its rules are worth getting to know, quite simple, and quite flexible. Most interestingly, its generic. The only system that comes as close in customization to it is the powers system.<br /><br />Another reason it doesn't get used as much is because its a terrible source of inspiration: it needs an idea before it becomes useful. While it adapts well to source material, its poor source material itself. This is in contrast many of the per-existing flavor-rich systems gurps can offer. This is a feature -- because of this it can handle lot more source material, but be aware going in that you need to provide fluff and setting.&nbsp; <br /><br />So next time you need a magic system, ask your self if realm magic will work. You may be pleasantly surprised by the answer. Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-78001851164180559662016-08-25T04:20:00.000-07:002016-08-25T04:20:47.059-07:00Monster Hunters: Between Man and Wolf<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fve_Q1W48k4/V77URehW6rI/AAAAAAAAAS4/ZFVUJaKgvlwnD3r4w7tS-lEEuD13M7qWwCLcB/s1600/wolfman-lewa.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fve_Q1W48k4/V77URehW6rI/AAAAAAAAAS4/ZFVUJaKgvlwnD3r4w7tS-lEEuD13M7qWwCLcB/s320/wolfman-lewa.png" width="220" /></a>While the classic werewolf of legend is a man that turns into a wolf, there is another tradition: that of a monstrous creature that is neither a man nor a wolf, but the animalistic features of a wolf framed on hunched, powerful frame of what's mostly a man. This is a modern take, but no less of a legitimate one.&nbsp; Monster Hunters provides us with&nbsp; several animal templates, but not much in the way of wolf-men. Or rat-men. We technically have the feline template in basic, but lets do a proper monster Hunters template as well.<br /><br />The most important thing to remember here is that the points should total up to 125. Its also worth noting that unlike a wolf, bear, or eagle, this creature is monstrous, and will be reacted to as such -- a wolf may draw calls to animal control, but a monster will generate even more extreme reactions.<br /><br /><b>Basic Man-Monster [125]</b><br />ST +2, DX +2, HT +2, Speed +.5, Teeth (sharp), Claws (sharp),&nbsp; Night vision 5,&nbsp; Damage Resistance 4 (tough skin), fur, Social Stigma (Monster), Ham-fisted, spoken language drops to accented, 32 point animal lens<br /><br />were-men tend to have a lot of similarities: Teeth, claws, fur, and an animalistic fury. They're bodies are pretty much in a monster shape rather than an animal form, and the focus is really on building a monster, not an animal. The spoken language at accented reflects an appropriate animal voice, and while it doesn't drive people away (your looks already do that, and you can turn it off whenever they want) it can make it difficult to communicate with teammates. <br /><br />Because we retain the human shape, a lot of the statistics are lower. But we keep fine manual dexterity, which means the character can use weapons and open doors freely. These types of monsters are made to use weapons, be they guns, blades, or something more exotic, and that can make these things terrifying. Night vision 5 is the higher than any of the natural animal templates. Once again, this is because this creature really isn't half-man half-animal, but a monster. <br /><br />The remaining points spent on a combination of senses and movement abilities, flavored for the appropriate animal. While these abilities are only about a quarter of the point total, they keep the monster tied to its animal roots.<br /><br /><b>Animal Lenses [32]</b><br /><b>Wolf-man</b>: <i>Acute hearing 3, Enhanced Move (ground) .5, Discriminatory Smell, Penetrating voice</i><br /><b>Cat-man</b>: <i>Acute Smell 1 , Perfect Balance, Discriminatory Hearing</i><br /><b>Rat-man</b>: <i>Discriminatory smell,&nbsp; Perfect Balance, Night vision raised to 7</i><br /><br />Other animals are quite possible, and should be appropriately themed. Smaller animals are particularly appropriate, as they can be made into a monster capable of making up for the animals natural small size.<br /><br /><b>More than one Template</b><br />Adding another template to a were is an additional 27 points. This is a big investment, but its also a very powerful one, giving a very different set of capabilities to the lycanthrope. The template taken should almost always be an intermediate or completed form of the creature. The lycanthrope should also specify which form is reverted to during the full moon.<br /><br /><b>As a Monster</b><br /><br />ST 20&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; HP 20&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Speed: 8.25<br />DX 15&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Will&nbsp; 12&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Move: 8<br />IQ 5 &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Per 13&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Weight: 150-200<br />HT 16&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; FP 16&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; SM: 0<br /><br />Dodge: 12&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; DR 6 (tough skin)<br /><br />bite (15): 2d-2 cut, reach C, -1 to defense<br />claw (15): 2d-2 cut, reach C, -1 to defense<br />Improvised Club (14) 4d+1/2d+1 cr, reach 1<br /><br />Its worth noting this sort of Lycanthrope is weaker than the classic forms -- unless it can get its hands on something. This monster is more dangerous in an urban or semi-urban enviroment than in the wilderness proper. Although the IQ is low, these monsters are quite willing to pick up an object and beat their foe with it.<br /><br />This sort of were is most dangerous as the semi-rational or rational head of a larger pack -- one with multiple forms, and who has combined human and animal into a single monstrous form using the benefits of both. While all weres are more dangerous in this form, half-men get particularly more dangerous, as they are able to take full advantage of weapons.<br /><h2>&nbsp;Last Howl</h2>I hope you find this useful ... I certainly wished someone else had done this for me on occasion! <br /><br /><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-88819919583306895672016-08-17T11:55:00.003-07:002016-08-17T11:55:52.259-07:00What is my TL anyways?<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DHTOvIlpA-g/V7NcxGaVKpI/AAAAAAAAAQs/Aziq8LCNHQs5KZBAVuMq9IcEZuYcUCHkACLcB/s1600/van_helsing.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-DHTOvIlpA-g/V7NcxGaVKpI/AAAAAAAAAQs/Aziq8LCNHQs5KZBAVuMq9IcEZuYcUCHkACLcB/s320/van_helsing.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">What's the TL on a full-auto crossbow?</td></tr></tbody></table>First of all, ask yourself why you need to know the tech level. Tech level has a few pretty different purposes: setting starting wealth, letting players know what kind of tech to expect, and pricing people with a different tech level. If you don't need any of those, or can settle them without using the number, you don't need to figure out what the actual Tech Level is. Of course, you frequently need to do all three of those, and in that case Tech Levels provide a framework for you to work with.<br /><br />Tech levels are a tool, not a limitation. If you find them getting in the way of what you want to do, you should either throw them completely out, or you should figure out why they aren't letting you do what you want to -- and that can help you to better understand your setting. I hope that this article can help you view and use Tech Levels as a tool and not a troublesome number you have to set.<br /><h2>What Tech is Important?</h2>When looking at technology, there are lots of things that are good to look at, but it can be worrisome to wonder if you're looking at enough technology and if you've looked at too much. I use the following list when I'm comparing technology: you should probably know how each of these work.<br /><ul><li>Weapons and Armor</li><li>Transportation and Communication</li><li>Medicine</li><li>Survival Gear</li><li>Spy Gear </li><li>Economic Robustness</li></ul>Each category represents something that adventurers use. There are certainly other categories of Technology, but they aren't as important to adventurers! If you're spending an extra amount of time on a category, be sure its interesting to the players.<br /><br /><b>Weapons and Armor</b>: The ability to kill and stop killing. This is very important to most adventurers, and includes not only automatics and armor, but tanks and tactics. Consider law enforcement situations, military situations, and fights in the wilderness.<br /><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t3wT0aQm-oQ/V7NbStVjHKI/AAAAAAAAAQc/TBeEM2V1_bIIatb9tLjL4pDMvSBuJImaACLcB/s1600/Vasnetsov_samolet.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-t3wT0aQm-oQ/V7NbStVjHKI/AAAAAAAAAQc/TBeEM2V1_bIIatb9tLjL4pDMvSBuJImaACLcB/s320/Vasnetsov_samolet.jpg" width="320" /></a><b>Transportation and Communication</b>: This includes getting silk from china, sending messages from London to Baghdad, and the written word. Some adventurers spend an awful lot of time delivering messages, exploring far off places, and trying to read ancient tomes. Transportation and communication also go a long ways to setting a feel for a setting. Consider not only how the rich and powerful communicate, but also how the common man communicates, and both how grain gets to town and how silk crosses the world. <br /><b>Medicine</b>: Medicine isn't just about undoing weapons and armor, but also about combating plagues -- a necessary part of exploring foreign lands. A smaller category than most, its also the most likely to be more advanced than reality. Be sure to remember both injuries and illness. <br /><b>Survival Gear</b>: Artificial lights. Tents. Water skins. Scuba Gear. Winter Clothing. Food preservation. Adventurers are constantly going inconvenient places, and this gear keeps them alive. This type of gear is easy to forget, so be sure that you include it! Consider typical camping gear, winter gear, cave exploration, swimming in water, climbing cliffs, and other tasks that may come up while adventuring.<br /><b>Spy Gear</b>: Finding out things people don't want you to, and ways to stop that. Most of the obvious cases are high tech gear: hidden microphones, cryptography, and alarm system count. but don't forget locks, primitive ciphers, and signet rings. Telescopes and radar also count. This tech can be very important for adventurers! <br /><b>Economic Robustness</b>: This is about how rich a society is, and its certainly part of the tech level. Its about how hard it is to make something, and how rich the average man (and more importantly soldier) is. The things to watch are food, shelter, clothing, pottery, and tools. How long does it take to make one of them. It is very possible to spend too much time here, but its worth at least stopping in to check. <br /><h2>What Tech to Expect</h2>The most important part of a tech level is setting player expectations. It can be frustrating for a player to think that something is available, only to have them realize it isn't. Even moreso when it happens again and again. The converse is no better: the NPC's constantly one-uping the heroes through superior understanding of their technology.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XhEwOvpaEN0/V7Nd5QV7lHI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/ACSJ2BYca48XMbcAQT0tq8xN1wKwltXJwCLcB/s1600/starWarsTargetingcomputer.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XhEwOvpaEN0/V7Nd5QV7lHI/AAAAAAAAAQ8/ACSJ2BYca48XMbcAQT0tq8xN1wKwltXJwCLcB/s200/starWarsTargetingcomputer.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">So for scifi, are we using this....</td></tr></tbody></table>Most GM's have better things to do with their time than make lists of every single item of gear in a campaign. This is one of the places where the TL number becomes a tool: you can give the number and a set of expectations are made. Its a fantastic starting point, and for a lot of games, its sufficient.<br /><br />But you probably didn't come here looking for advice on a run of the mill game. The TL number can still help. You give the TL number and then you modify it. In historical games this isn't too hard. You can also say things like "TL 4 without gunpowder". This is particuarly true for Ultra-tech games.<br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwVXYXHuop0/V7Nd5QNhNMI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/idAs2rvRMdo2IOC26PAMwwiubK7vJqvJACLcB/s1600/smartPhone.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="120" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-LwVXYXHuop0/V7Nd5QNhNMI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/idAs2rvRMdo2IOC26PAMwwiubK7vJqvJACLcB/s200/smartPhone.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">....or this?</td></tr></tbody></table><br />And then you have crazy settings with a large amount of tech described in no other book. This includes settings like star wars (which doesn't seem to have all the tech we do), Magitech, and glowing Atlantean crystals. So what do we do here? Sit down with the list of categories and specify what's available and what's not. If you struggle with one, think about it for just a moment and then come up with something or be sure it won't come up. Economic Robustness... lines up pretty well with starting wealth. And we'll cover that in a lower section. <br /><h2>Pricing Primitives</h2>This is at once the hardest and easiest part to do: +/-[5] points per tech level different from the campaign standard.&nbsp; If the campaign standard is TL 8 and you are TL 7+1 -- don't pay anything, it all adds up to eight. Of course, this requires a number for you to compare to... kind of.<br /><br />In some campaigns its possible to just wing a TL difference based on 'better tech'. This is particuarly applicable in space opera where a more advanced race is better only in terms of smaller gear that does more damage with better armor on faster ships, but is otherwise pretty much the same. This is almost never more than two TL's worth of advancements.&nbsp; A tool, not a limitation. <br /><h2>Starting Wealth</h2>Starting Wealth is an interesting concept. It controls how much gear a character has access to. Which is a big deal. Part of what makes DF use a 'fantasy TL' is the cost assumptions in the genre. Starting wealth is normally not a big deal: most of the time you know about what TL you are at and you can just use that number -- or tweak it to your taste. TL is a tool, and this is never truer than with starting wealth. Occasionally though, you need to know what the proper starting wealth for a character in a totally alien technology paradigm is. For that-- figure out the number, and then use the normal tools.<br /><h2>Coming Up With a Number for Magic Carpets and Zombie Farmers</h2>Ok, now we need to come up with our number. This can feel nervewracking, but is actually not that hard to get right. The most important thing before you start is to know what the tech level you are trying to set is capable of. If you don't know that, you can't figure out the TL.<br /><br /><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V4sVVpfoxxk/V7NauCe45ZI/AAAAAAAAAQY/E0BUi8XSaeA2Hm4Uo_1vMFOr4XXN-YyQwCLcB/s1600/Steampunk-falksen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-V4sVVpfoxxk/V7NauCe45ZI/AAAAAAAAAQY/E0BUi8XSaeA2Hm4Uo_1vMFOr4XXN-YyQwCLcB/s320/Steampunk-falksen.jpg" width="213" /></a>The trickiest part in all of this is often taking magic into account. When I say magic in this context, I don't mean 'anything that breaks the laws of physics'. I mean 'abilities restricted to a small portion of the population'. When working out what technology requiring specialized mages is like, ask yourself: "how does a middling merchant do it?" In the end, it all comes down to access: if merlin and al'Hazin use crystal balls to talk in london and baghdad, but everyone else uses couriers with a long a dangerous journey, you don't have instant communication. On the other hand, if a middling merchant can find a local witch to bridge the distance with her own crystal ball, you should count the technology.<br /><br />Pick a TL you think your own compares to (I suspect 6 or 7 is best for you), and compare each of the technological categories of the historical TL to the TL you choose. If one aspect is lots better in one setting (often communication or medicine) that's fine, but if one setting routinely outclasses the other, move the 'equivalent TL guess' up or down and compare again. Don't worry about this being exact. If you can't decide if a setting is better or worse than another in a given aspect, just declare them equal and move on.<br /><br />You can certainly compare the TL's yourself and by ear, <a href="http://worldsbeyondearth.blogspot.com/p/tl-benchmarks.html">but I have a list</a>. Its nothing new, but it puts the technologies into categories so that its&nbsp; easy to compare and so all the information is in one place. Once you have the list and know what the TL can do, matching them up is fairly simple.<br /><br />when the balances are even, you have your TL equivalent! This doesn't mean you have that TL, only that your TL is 'about as good' as that TL. If it seems like a lot of stuff seems to fall between TL 5 and TL 6 --- that's not a coincidence. The industrial revolution saw huge changes in what mankind could do. In some cases one technological area will be more advanced. While this doesn't matter on the small scale, it can be worth it to say that a setting is TL6, but TL7 in weapons technology. Use this sparingly though -- once you have a split tech, everything is fairly fuzzy. Slight advances (or primitive fields) work best when fairly close to a core TL -- or if they are close to a TL that exists elsewhere in the setting. <br /><h2>Making the Number Look Fancy</h2><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nMBLZRfsZsI/V7NaTV5DtyI/AAAAAAAAAQU/abLfUkzVnFInn5A07M5SeBqlBS1OoJDgwCLcB/s1600/airship_1896.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nMBLZRfsZsI/V7NaTV5DtyI/AAAAAAAAAQU/abLfUkzVnFInn5A07M5SeBqlBS1OoJDgwCLcB/s320/airship_1896.jpg" width="320" /></a>&nbsp;The numeric equivalent is good for most purposes, but a lot of people will want to go even further and come up with one of those fancy TL3+2^ names for their TL. We can do that too.<br /><br />Once you have your TL equivalent, figure out the last standard TL where most of the technologies exist. For example, If you don't have coal power you probably don't have TL 5, but you might have TL 4 -- particularly if you <i>do </i>have gun powder and clockwork. This tends to be easier than the first comparison, but once again, don't get stuck over thinking it.<br /><br />Now take the two numbers and build the TL X+Y. So if the first number was 7 and the second number was 4, you have TL 4 +3 (=7). And if you have supernatural aspects add a ^ to the end of the whole thing.<br /><br />The ^ is kind of a funny thing. It represents breaks from the laws of reality as we know them. If it is put on a TL without a '+', as in TL7^, it means that you have TL 7 plus some extra things, be that broadcast power or&nbsp;&nbsp; psionic mind reading tech. The ^ will always indicate raised technology. But if you've got a TL X+Y^, the ^ doesn't indicate addition, just that the alternate tech isn't of the normal variety. In some ways its redundant, but its always good to have, because it tells the players to beware of tech. <br /><h2>Don't be Discouraged</h2>Remember, this is a game. Its supposed to be fun! If you don't think figuring out your TL is fun, or doable, just use TL 5. Actually, use the alternative number than popped into your head when I suggested using what's obviously the wrong TL. But if you really like this sort of stuff (like I do), then read over the article and start thinking beyond flintstones level technology. Think up alternate ways of running a civilization, and set your players loose in the results -- assured that you can give this place a number. Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-50552879341334828372016-08-05T09:47:00.001-07:002016-08-05T10:26:11.999-07:00The Hawfax (Species)<br />The Hawfax are a six legged arboreal species with a stiff covering closer to feathers than hair, large, forward facing eyes, a prehensile tail, and four toothed tongues in an otherwise jawless mouth. They are about suited for life in the trees as a human is suited for life on the ground: most wild animals can outperform them. They have remarkably strong grips. The entire creature is the length of a man's arm, not including the prehensile tail, and they weigh 40-60 lbs.<br /><br /><a name='more'></a><br />They naturally have longer lifespans than humans, but not by much: aging landmarks are at x1.5 of human numbers. Hawfax are a variety of dull colors by nature, but they wear clothes (their high internal temperature makes even the Amazon chilly) in all sorts of gaudy shades, often with patterns and prints. They don't grey with age, but they do wrinkle and get a weathered look. Males and Females are distinguished by smell, not by appearance -- something most humans can't pick up. Hawfax are largely serial monogamists.&nbsp; A pouch on both species is used to carry first their eggs and then their young, who are fed by regurgitation until they can digest their own food. Sticking things other than young in the pouch is considered disgusting, much like keeping items in any body orifice. Both Parents ideally take care of young, but this may or may not happen. Young Hawfax physically mature at about age 18, but in modern Hawfax culture don't really act like adults until they hit 28 or so.<br /><br />Their senses are remarkably human. They have good color vision, a solid sense of hearing, communicate by sound, and have the delicate touch needed for any tool using creature. Their sense of smell is much better than a humans', but they don't see well in the dark at all.They see different colors than humans, and the two species have a very different appreciation of paintings. Art that doesn't rely on color translates fairly well though.<br /><h2>The Biology</h2>They are a mostly vegetarian species. Like all vegetarians, they can technically digest meat, but they don't recognize a corpse as food, and eating another animal is barbaric and repulsive to them. Killing an animal is just fine, provided it was a pest of some sort (which includes predators and rival herbivores), or a bug sized animals (though they are still picky about those).&nbsp; <br /><br />Hawfax agriculture is based on trees. They brought a myriad of tree and tree dwelling vegetable species brought from their homeworld, but have found some of the local trees do as well or better in the local environment. Within the frame work of trees and vegetarianism, they are quite creative with their diet. Crops include bark, fruit, leaves,&nbsp; small bugs, (flowers?), seeds, shoots and flowers. They transform land into farms just as dramatically as humans, the result just is based on scaffolding and trees rather than floors and grass<br /><br />Their biology is as earth-like as could be expected. Their biochemistry is similar if weird. They use a slightly different set of amino acids and their nucleic acid is entirely different but a lot of the same molecules play a lot of the same roles. Creatures from the two planets can eat each other (mostly) safely, and bacteria and parasites can theoretically jump between the two, but viruses cannot.<br /><h2>The Culture</h2>The hawfax pride themselves on individualism, scientific progress, rationality, and ethics. They like to weigh issues in prolonged debate about if an action is fair to all concerned, including animals or criminals. They have a strong negative reaction to religion, a high value on personal freedom, and a keen interest in other cultures and creatures. These qualities are actually self selected: the colony selected individuals with these sorts of traits when it left the Hawfax home-world, which is far less homogeneous in its beliefs and values.<br /><br />A GM running Hawfax right should find his players identifying with Hawfax more frequently than with their fore-bearers of the early 1900s, who today would be labeled as racist and imperialist.&nbsp; This is by design: hawfax have a fairly modern culture. They are not perfect or straw men though, just closer to modern culture. <br /><h2>Building Characters</h2><b>Template [0] </b><br />-3 ST [-30], Move -2 [-10], Terrain Adaptation (branches) [5], Discriminatory Smell [15], High TL 3 [15], Wealth (comfortable) [10], Six Legs&nbsp; [10], Semi upright [-5], Night Blindness [-10], Feature: Non-Terrestrial Biochemistry [0]. Feature: temperature range 60 to 115 (+25 F) [0]. <br /><h3>Other considerations:</h3><b>Common Disadvantages</b>: While not listed on the template, hawfax culture usually leaves them with appropriate disadvantages .. much as human culture does. Be aware of the gap and pick appropriate disadvantages accordingly. The broad minded quirk is extremely common though. <br /><b>Quirk: Gets Cold Easily</b>. A campaign that takes place in the wilds of earth that are not tropical rain-forest will find the hawfax constantly struggling against the cold, and this quirk reflects that. This should not be taken in campaigns in the wilds of the amazon, or that spend the majority of its time indoors, as the temperature tolerances will rarely come up.<br /><b>Perk: Long Life</b>. Most campaigns will not span enough time for a hawfax's long life to have any game effect. If they do last this long, hawfax should take this perk.<br /><b>ST costs</b>: In low combat campaigns, ST is often overpriced -- a disadvantage that is never used is not a disadvantage. GM's could at least consider dropping the cost of ST to 5/level, which gives the template a cost of&nbsp; [15]. But in combat heavy campaigns the lower ST may be quite a disadvantage. <br /><h3>Building Humans:</h3><b>Non Iconographic (colors only -50%, Mitigator-20%) [-3] </b>By nature, humans cannot perceive most of the color used on hawfax digital displays or even common pigments, which gives a penalty (usually -2 to -4) to using much of their technology. This can be overcome using special technology, but its rare. This should only be bought on humans who have increased their TL to that of the Hawfax. <br /><b>Am I primative or are you advanced? </b>The template given is based on human society as the default. If hawfax are the reference society, give humans Struggling Wealth [-10] and low TL 3 [-15]. This drops the cost of a Hawfax to [-25].<br /><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-58200512172996668692016-08-02T12:27:00.002-07:002016-08-02T12:34:50.665-07:00The Refuges: Stornuso (stars in an ocean)<i>Miruso paddled his kayak through the ice in darkness. The last great star, </i>Friend<i>, had dimmed and then disapeared. The sound of the waves and his paddle in the open ocean were a strong contrast to the darkness of the long night around him. He pulled his fur parka tight -- this was a long trip, and there was no need to waste his heat reserves. He shifted his weight to balance his supplies -- mostly fishing equipment and dried fish. </i><br /><br /><i>Off in the distance, Miruso saw a twinkle of light on the water. The familiar light of another traveler! He strengthened the light coming from the skin of his face, hoping that the other traveler would see the increased glow and they could meet up.&nbsp; </i><br /><br />welcome to Stornuso, a dark world of water, ice, fire, and stars.&nbsp; Its one of the Refuges: one world among many. Its designed for a specific setting, but the geography, cultures, magic and other aspects are free to be used where seen fit.<span id="goog_1368880611"></span><a href="https://www.blogger.com/"></a><span id="goog_1368880612"></span><br /><h2>The World</h2><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IapUCjA5bTg/V6DqB2l6mGI/AAAAAAAAAOc/l5sgyKt4MgsKpivnt0OI11lUyji40DnjgCLcB/s1600/Stornuso.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="209" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-IapUCjA5bTg/V6DqB2l6mGI/AAAAAAAAAOc/l5sgyKt4MgsKpivnt0OI11lUyji40DnjgCLcB/s320/Stornuso.png" width="320" /></a>&nbsp;Stornuso is a cold world covered almost entirely by water, sheet ice, and iceburgs, and dominated by long periods of darkness. The sky is always black, lacking a proper sun, but studded with a variety of stars that wax and wane in their places. Sometimes they are bright enough to see by, but at other times they are as dark as any night. As the sky is studded with stars, the ocean is studded with volcanic islands. These flare up periodically, belching out light, smoke, and most particularly heat. A hardy folk with their own strange breed of magic ply the seas between islands, following the marine life and the heat.<br /><br />Human life on Stornuso is made possible by phage magic -- the magic of storing energy for later. Phage magic focuses on Light, Heat, and Motion. The magic always happens at the skin. Light can be absorbed by the skin and released at a later time. Stornusoan mages can slow down ice burgs if only they can stand to touch them with their fingertips ... and later propel their boats with that same power.&nbsp; <br /><a name='more'></a><br /><h2>The Islands</h2>The major source of heat on Stornuso is geothermal activity: geysers, hot springs, volcanoes, and so forth. These hot spots are intermittent, and cold one can get very cold indeed -- its the active ones that are important. People and creatures flock from all around to these literal 'hot spots'. Hot spots wax and wane, growing warm and then cold. Different spots stay warm for different amounts of time. The most important spots are the ones that stay hot for a long time. The Stornusoan's children don't know phage magic yet, and so cannot weather the long cold between islands.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U7joQFRelDs/V6Dq2d38SfI/AAAAAAAAAOg/nk2CL-i5N0AZ6R2s_BnMMhhol1XFzJnYgCLcB/s1600/mudPoolNotAboutBooks2012Iceland.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-U7joQFRelDs/V6Dq2d38SfI/AAAAAAAAAOg/nk2CL-i5N0AZ6R2s_BnMMhhol1XFzJnYgCLcB/s320/mudPoolNotAboutBooks2012Iceland.jpg" width="200" /></a>Each Island has a hot, steamy, volcanic center, often belching out lava and smoke. Strange vegetation grows here, seemingly more like a fungus than a plant. The temperatures are hotter than an oven. Stornusoans come here when the volcano is active for to gather heat so that they can travel in the long cold, and to gather 'wood' for their boats. The foliage is not good to eat, and even if the island isn't infested with trolls, some of the other wildlife in this region can be dangerous.<br /><br />Outside of the volcanic region is the hot springs. All sorts of hot springs abound, from scalding hot to comfortable to clear to caustic mud to beautiful colors. There is some silt, and some rock, but little vegetation.&nbsp; Fewer creatures live here, though sea birds, trolls, or humans usually make it their abode. This region is a comfortable temperature for humans.<br /><br />On the beach there are many animals: seals, birds (including penguins), crabs, and other aquatic life. The volcano heats up not only the island itself but the ocean around it. Here seaweed grows and arctic life in general blooms. This is were humans gather most of their food. <br /><h2>The Ocean</h2>Most of Stornuso is open ocean. Because heat comes from volcanoes that may or may not be active at any given moment, much of the ocean is cold and covered in sheets of ice. Food most densely found around islands, but in the deep are many creatures it is profitable to hunt. Out in the open ocean a hunter may find fish, seals, whales, and even bears, as well as other creatures from the beach. Various wanderers in boats, sleds, or funny combinations of the two wander on the ocean, looking for their next island -- or perhaps just for their next meal. Heat from phage magic will keep them warm --- until it runs out.<br /><br />The ocean is a cold world marked by ice, water, and emptiness. While food can be found in it, food is much more abundant in the heated waters near a volcanic island. Whatever system you are using to keep track of getting food, you should treat the cold ocean as a difficult area. terms of Gurps Low-Tech Companion 3, the area is Very Poor or Desolate, with occasional poor spots. If using a simpler Gurps system, a -2 to attempts to find food may suffice. Living off the ocean normally uses up resources, and a traveler will keep a supply of food to help his family survive until they find an island.&nbsp; <br /><h2>The People</h2>The Stornusoans are a simple people who live on the bounty of the sea. For all intents and purposes they seem to be human -- they physically look like the tribes of the arctic. Short of stature, shorter limbs, slightly dark skin, black hair, and round faces.<br /><br />They travel around in small family units -- young men will often set off to seek their fortune. The exact size of the unit varies: most of the time they are driven to separate by hunger and hunting conditions rather than social pressures.<br /><br />Religion is centered around the islands and stars: each island is considered to have a spirit, as is each star. Sacrifices include worked possessions and food, but most often consist of heat, light, and motion: Arrival at an island is usually followed by a sacrifice of excess energy -- often a large one. The best sacrifices don't involve lots of dumps, but one single moment in which as much energy as possible is sacrificed. This is comparative of course, given the slow moving nature of phage magic,&nbsp; but can still give impressive results. Care is taken that the energy does not come from the entity sacrificed to. Religious rituals are commonly practiced by the head of a boat when on the ocean and by a dedicated shaman on an island. Sacrifices are typically made to the stars when on the ocean, or&nbsp; to the island you are on when on land. <br /><h2>Island Culture</h2><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wlL4rZbRaus/V6DxxSa0xJI/AAAAAAAAAO0/z5htyD8mcVEsKLnq005-YOVA2swWc0kAACLcB/s1600/crabIcon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="141" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wlL4rZbRaus/V6DxxSa0xJI/AAAAAAAAAO0/z5htyD8mcVEsKLnq005-YOVA2swWc0kAACLcB/s200/crabIcon.png" width="200" /></a>Every island has a chief, who decides whether new comers are allowed on his island or not, and how long they may stay for. Chiefs are chosen by community vote of all the hunters. Usually, a chief is an older and charismatic individual. Claims of holding office on different islands are common but not taken at face value: such a claim can be hard to prove. Chiefs may be benevolent, or they may rule as tyrants, but the ability to leave the island is pretty common, and all reigns eventually end. Or at least most of them. Chiefs may be removed when they die, leave the island, retire, or in a massive and rare ceremony that involves most (three fourths is typical) of the inhabitants entering boats just off of shore and electing a new chief. Severely unpopular chiefs are as likely to be assassinated as to be voted out. <br /><br />When an island goes cold, the different families split up all go different directions, each looking for a new hot spot. Because of this, stable tribes rarely form outside of the context of a single island. However, a tribe equivalent exists in the form of&nbsp; 'totems'. A totem is an form (usually an animal) to represent its supporters. The exact philosophies of totems vary, even within the totem, but cliques on islands form based around totems, and a chief is most likely to accept newcomers who share his totem. Battles do happen, particularly on islands with longer life spans, but these are rare: Warriors are more likely to battle trolls. <br /><br />There are many totems, and some people invent new ones, but some of the most common include:<br />The Troll: Resilience, Battle, Willingness to Kill<br />The Bear: Independence, Freedom, Strength<br />The Crab: Home, Planning, Defense<br />The Gull: Community, Friendship, Strength in numbers<br />The Barnacle: Stubbornness, Resourcefulness<br />The Orca: Strength, Community, Hunting<br /><br />Despite the cliques and the chiefs, society is fairly flat, with any hunter, fisher, or craftsman is able to fully participate in society and possibly become chief, island elder, or any other role.<br /><h2>The Technology</h2>While their outward facing technology appears to be all leather and wood equivalent, Stornusoans are actually quite skilled with working metals -- they can work in forges with their bare hands. They don't like metal and pottery because of the difficulty in transporting it: spear and arrow heads are much more common than swords or other heavy metal items., They are generally somewhere between TL 1 and TL 2. Islands that stay hot for generations will sometimes develop some TL 3 technologies. <br /><h2>The Magic</h2>Phage magic is always absorbed and stored for later. It does not lend itself to combat, but to survival. These are the 'Laws' of phage magic:<br /><b>Energy release and absorption are slow, but can be powerful</b>. In other words, you can't absorb a fire ball, but you can slowly stick your hand into lava -- but if you're dropped in lava phage magic won't protect you. Conversely, you can't shoot out a fireball, but melting a doorknob to slag is quite possible. As a general rule, most uses take 5 seconds or more. <br /><b>Everything happens at the skin</b>. If the skin isn't touching it, the magic can't happen. This is particularly important for kinetic energy, bit can also be an important limitation when heating something up or cooling it down. Flicking something repeatedly is a valid tactic, and doesn't violate the 'slow' rule: you can work up to getting into lava that way. Its also worth noting releasing light always results in a part of the body glowing. Most of the time its the face.<br /><b>Everything must be stored</b>. Heat, motion, and light all must be stored before they are released. If the mage doesn't have them, he can't create them. They also cannot be converted from one type to another: motion cannot be converted to heat.<br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6juu79VaQ2I/V6DzOcVk4uI/AAAAAAAAAPE/UcvuBuqdjP8mArYr6BP00bCkZZDFIsa1ACLcB/s1600/volcanoIcon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6juu79VaQ2I/V6DzOcVk4uI/AAAAAAAAAPE/UcvuBuqdjP8mArYr6BP00bCkZZDFIsa1ACLcB/s320/volcanoIcon.png" width="320" /></a><b>There is a limit to how much can be stored</b>. Every person has their limit. Its not the same for every person, but their is a limit. The limit can be exceeded for a short time only, and then the energy will bleed away without effect. The 'bleeding' happens faster the farther over the limit you are, but few amounts of energy can last for more than 5 minutes. Amounts stored should be fairly high: 12 months of human heat is typical. <br /><b>The energy can be passed from person to person</b>. This follows all of the other rules given, particularly about slow power use and skin contact -- handshakes or embraces are typically used to transfer energy. Kindly but crowded islands will often give heat to travelers before they send them away.<br /><b>Kinetic motion is stored by 'slowing things down'</b> -- in other words by increasing air resistance and friction. Only the object needs to be touched. The classic place to get this energy is icebergs. however, only icebergs being sped up by the flow, turned, or bumping into one another can provide energy. This can also be used to slow a fall-- if the fall is far enough. It rarely is.<br /><br />On stornuso, this magic system is used by everyone -- an inability to use phage magic is as bad as an inability to walk. From the stornusoans, there is no genetic point of view. When others from the refuges arrive, they find themselves able to use the magic, though their is a lot of work involved in learning how to use it. If stornuso is used in a different setting, a GM may wish to decide their is a genetic component, but all stornusoans have it. <br /><br />Pricing the magic can be tricky. Gurps magic as powers is one route, but may perhaps be too complicated. My two instincts are to treat the magic either as Realm Magic&nbsp; or as magic as technology.<br /><br />If treated as magic as technology, Phage magic raises the TL of low TL practitioners by about 2 levels. It allows increased production (going directly into kilns), drastically increases survival, and helps a little with transport and communication. These gains are somewhat offset by the fact that it doesn't really help with combat at all.&nbsp; So those who have the magic in a setting where most people don't have high TL 2, and those who lack it in a setting where its common (most often minors) have&nbsp;&nbsp; low TL 2. <br /><br />If pricing phage magic as realm magic, we have a <i>Lot </i>more to count than just the three types of energy. By my count, there is the equivalent of 12 realms***. We have three limitations on what you can do with a realm: speed, distance, and creation. Each of those will represent a level that we theoretically could have but don't. So at a base of 60 per realm, multiplied at 2/3 for having 12 realms, and divided into 4 levels, we get 10 points per level, for a total of 10 points. These points should NOT be used as alternate abilities.<br /><br />In either, a skill should be assigned and purchased for each ability.<br /><br />Yes, this is a light treatment of the magic system, but I've given enough to go on, and anything more deserves its own post. <br /><h2>The Trolls</h2>Trolls* are dumb brutes no more intelligent than gorillas -- which is to say they are quite good at forming packs, using clever hunting strategies, and can even figure out the occasional tool! Trolls are notable for their regeneration: they can recover from just about any wound. With massive teeth and a predatory view on life, they are the top predator (and herbivore) on the islands.<br /><br />There are two limitations to the trolls astounding regeneration: they must have the mass to heal, and they must have a different core temperature than the area around them. If they lack either of those two requirements, they cannot heal from a wound. The classic way to defeat a troll is to hack off a limb and ran away with it.&nbsp; Trolls will also go inert when the heat goes away (or if they reach the temperature of their surroundings for too long), and Stornusoans take advantage of this time to hack up trolls as best as they can. <br /><br />Islands overrun by trolls are not safe -- the creatures would feast on human flesh as readily as any other. Yet often Stornusoans have no choice but to try and co-exist with the brutes. These situations are tense, with each side trying to catch the other off guard.<br /><br /><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TEgeHFNCsu4/V6Dx7m-OxkI/AAAAAAAAAO4/UKIA18JEULQURnHvWMNtC6f6dtMmyRmIwCLcB/s1600/TrollIcon.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="191" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TEgeHFNCsu4/V6Dx7m-OxkI/AAAAAAAAAO4/UKIA18JEULQURnHvWMNtC6f6dtMmyRmIwCLcB/s200/TrollIcon.png" width="200" /></a>Each GM may build his own troll, but I suggest the following as a base:<br /><b>ST 15, DX 12, IQ 6, HT 10</b><br /><b>HP 15, Per 12, Will 11, FP 10</b><br /><i>High Pain Tolerance, 10 ER, Regenerates 1 HP/ sec (requires heat differential),&nbsp; unkillable 2, regrowth (requires ER, GM call on amount), sharp teeth, claws, Discriminating Smell, Temperature tolerance 20, 5 DR (heat based only),&nbsp; Blood Lust, goes inactive in heat differential.&nbsp; </i><br /><h2>The Stars</h2>Light on Stornuso comes from four stars: Comfort, Mystery, Majesty, and Friend.&nbsp; They do not change their position in the sky, but they do change their brightness. At any given time any combination of them can be bright, dim, or gone.&nbsp; Time is counted in days (half cycles of friend, which is, conveniently enough, approximately a real day). Full darkness happens about every 100 days, and full brightness every 300 days or so. Both full darkness and full light have their actual <br /><br />Friend is the quickest of the four stars, glowing for 24 hours, then dark for 24 hours. Comfort has about a 45 day cycle (not that they have days here -- thats 20 cycles of Friend) but stays bright for half of it and is only dark for about 10 days -- comfort is almost always in the sky -- that's why its called comfort. Majesty has a balanced cycle of about 90 days, twice that of comfort, and mystery show up for about 20 days every 120, for some odd reason**.<br /><br />There are other stars in the sky, much fainter, that do not provide meaningful light to Stornuso, but can be used to navigate. They, like the main stars, wax and wane.&nbsp; <br /><br />While the locals undoubtedly have a convoluted calendar system that tracks all of this, For gaming purposes its probably sufficient to count days, full darks and full lights -- full lights average out to be about a year each. The GM then sets an illumination level and cycles friend every 48 hours.<br /><h2>The Campaign</h2>Stornuso can fill several roles in a campaign. A campaign set among just the Stornusoans plays like many other survivalist campaigns. While the TL is as high as 2, there is no agriculture, and so it can feel like a much lower tech game. In addition to the normal struggles of survival there is the challenge of battling trolls, and a lot of potential for politics.<br /><br />The setting is designed to be visited rather than played exclusively in. Its a Refuges world, and it obeys the rules of the setting. It also is a great place to have climatic battles: volcanoes, open ocean, icebergs, and so forth.&nbsp; Most of the culture works as the far north of another setting. The magic system is designed to fit in with many others, and Stornuso is essentially an 'exotic land' to adventure in.<br /><br />I hope you find this fantastic land new and a fine playground for your heroes to play on. If you only use one part of it, that's enough for me to call a success. I wish you luck as you ply the frigid oceans in search of your next landing!<br /><br />* ok, you don't have to call them trolls, but its essentially what they are. If your pc's are outsiders to the world, make them come up with a name as part of their discovery. Other names include volcano apes,<br /><br />** as far as I know, this cycle is not astronomically possible -- and its not meant to be.<br /><br />***This was an involved calculation I will cover in a different post -- but realm magic is its own beast, and worth covering. Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-9019045990885282032016-07-25T12:26:00.004-07:002016-07-25T12:26:47.056-07:00On Making Immortal Characters Seem OldI was perusing <a href="http://mailanka.blogspot.nl/">Mailanka's Musings </a>, trying to find something, and run across an interesting (and old) article. It was specifically about <a href="http://mailanka.blogspot.nl/2011/07/vampires-are-really-really-old.html">vampires being really old</a>, and how we often just throw out the numbers without really thinking about it. And it got me thinking about how you would make a seriously old character feel real without too much effort. And it occurred to me to use some random NPC generating tools multiple times, and then to stack them all together.<br /><h2>The Basic Example</h2>I'm using Collaborative Gamer's tables for making memorable NPC's. I'm not actually going to roll all of the entries. Each iteration will use a role in society, an interesting fact, and a hope/fear.&nbsp; Just three items, but we'll see what they suggest.&nbsp; for the first trial we'll just use four-- and leave his modern situation open. <br /><ul><li>Religion- Highly social: knows everyone, - Hope/Fear:The Past</li><li>Underworld - Surprisingly open-minded - Hope/Fear:The Past</li><li>Nobility - Weighs things carefully before deciding -&nbsp; Hope/Fear:Love</li><li>Travler/Tansit - Richer than they seem - Hope/Fear:Sex</li></ul><div class="rowEven">Ok, this is only four lives, but we already have a lot going on.&nbsp; I originally got 'Knows you by reputation' for the last category, but that seemed to specific to PC's, and so rerolled it. A few more details are really needed here: how does this immortality work? a vampire will color these arcs differently than an elf, a highlander, or a wizard. We also could use a lot of detail about the history of the world, to give us a backdrop, and its good to know about how long each phases should last. For this first test, lets use a vampire who goes through phases every 20 years or so, and use the modern world. We're ending in 2016, so we start in 1936.&nbsp;</div><br /><br />in 1936, our Vampire (lets name him Victor) was a priest or preacher of some sort. He knew everyone around, but even then he worried about his past. We have our first sticky situation: Vampires and religion don't mix. As in the vampires can't stick around it. Does this mean he was turned later in life? Or does it mean he fullfilled some dark religious function for the local supernatural community. Or that he tried to hide himself in plain site in his position and found a work around for the religious issue? All of these work, but I'm going to go with the turned later in life option. He was a prominent preacher in the depression who knew everyone. But he had secrets, and a past. I'm not going to do much with that. Perhaps he had no great desires at this point: starting him off as a fairly satisfied preacher has appeal in light of who he will become.<br /><br />In 1956, he's somehow turned to a life a crime: presumably he was turned into a vampire during that time. His wife, children, and congregation are behind him. They know something happened to him, and being a former preacher isn't going to get him a lot of respect among his own kind. Perhaps he's even wanted for murder. He's trying to find a new life, skulking in the shadows of St. Louis and other cities, just trying to start a new life. His friends are other vampires and scum of the earth. He is exploring lots of options though, and is willing to try new things ... comes of turning a man of the cloth into a creature of darkness. <br /><br />When we see Victor in the 70's,&nbsp; He's nobility -- which is another way of saying he's rich. He was underworld last time we saw him, so he's probably a crime lord of some sort, probably minor. He's a cautious sort, seemingly having learned wisdom. He seems to have entered an existential phase: he's looking for love. He has everything a vampire could get, at least in small scale, but wants more. His wife is old and decrepit, his kids have moved on from what their father was, and in his home town he's just a ghost story now. His street acquaintances are either dead, moved on, or part of his new empire.<br /><br />In the 96, we find him traveling around sating his lusts. He presumably didn't find the love he sought, indicating a sad story. He's liquefied his wealth, and his old crime buddies don't know where he is, just that he 'retired'. He is a simple creature, but no less dangerous than before.<br /><br />And then we have the modern day. Victor won't be a traveling menace anymore, just as he wasn't a crime lord in 96. We do have a history for him though. It gives us a simple idea of who he was. It also lets us know what he can and can't do. He has a decent spread of skills, but not an absolutely massive one. He actually hasn't lived that long of a life, as vampires go.<br /><h2>How Big a Gap</h2>This is a very important question when rolling up an immortal: how static are they? How long do they go between phases? An elf that hangs around other immortals could have much longer phases than the result of a curse in a land with few other people. How stable the character is is really a matter of taste and situation. In fact, you don't even have to make them all the same size. You could say that the wizard of the red tower had a phase where he ran the barony for 4 years and afterwards spent 66 years researching mind control.<br /><br />Of course, when playing with the length remember than everyone else is turning over every 20 years. The red mage may have spent 66 years poring over musty books, but in that time his lands didn't stay static, and his stewards probably changed three or four times, each with a different opinion of their master. walk through the 20 year chunks, even when they're part of a single phase. <br /><h2>Tricks and Troubles</h2>No random table will be perfect for this -- not even the ones I just used. Feel free to tweak the tables, and reroll results that make no sense at all. Don't shy away from rethinking what a given response means. And don't take too long getting things perfect: this is a NPC generation process, after all.<br /><h2>Analysis</h2>I don't think this gives perfect results by any means. But it does give decent results, and for a truly deep NPC, its worth the effort.&nbsp; I hope you find this useful for your games, and that it inspires you to use an immortal in your game sometime. Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-60986554337835646382016-06-07T13:33:00.002-07:002016-06-07T13:33:33.813-07:00Magic As TechnologyI'm quite fond of the 'Magic as Technology' paradigm. But Why? today I examine why I love this paradigm so much, and what its strengths are.<br /><br />Magic as technology takes the focus off of character points and places it on the character. When I introduce magic as technology, I don't have people asking "If I take a&nbsp; rules exemption perk can I take ritual adept (connection) anyways?". Instead they say "can I have this cool device that your description made me think of that isn't in the setting but totally should be?" But shouldn't the focus be on the characters and how cool they are? Yes, the GM's focus should be on the characters. Conversely, the player's focus should be on the plot and on the setting (and on the other players). Everyone should work together, and I love how magic as technology helps focus the players on the setting even before the game starts.<br /><br />I love how magic as technology simplifies point concerns. In campaigns that use supernatural powers, balancing who has how much of each power and how that's effected by guns being around can be a huge headache. You pay for the skill to use the magic, and that's that.&nbsp; It also pushes players towards having at least a little skill in magic. <br /><br />Speaking of point values, I also like settings where everyone or most everyone has access to magic. I world build in part for the sake of world building, and alternate technologies fascinate me. What happens if flying ships as heavy as land ships show up at TL 6? What if mind control is something you just pay for? Exploring these questions become easier when you present the supernatural as technology, rather than as something that might change with every character.<br /><br />Magic as technology does have a few conditions for it to work well.It needs to be universally or near universally available. Magic as technology is only balanced when everyone has access to it. That isn't to say no-one can be excluded, rather that they are the exception rather than the rule. In the refuges setting many characters will have access only one flavor of magical technology, with a mixed group being possible (and indeed likely). Magic as technology also struggles with 'open-ended' magic systems -- magic that does 'everything'. Probably because of the first rule: if anyone can do anything you get very unwieldy settings.<br /><br /><br />I love magic as technology. I use other paradigms as well, but I feel this approach is underappreciated. I hope you find place to use it. Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-87980199846112820402016-05-11T08:55:00.002-07:002016-05-11T08:55:25.766-07:00Invasion of the Hawfax: The Jungle WarIt seems that every nation is born in fire and blood. This was never more true than at the end of the 19th century, when the Hawfax arrived in the amazon. The fighting was savage and showed many of the Hawfax weaknesses -- it also showed many of their strengths and just how badly humanity was outgunned.<br /><h2>The Combatants</h2>&nbsp;The Hawfax brought few guns with them -- they considered themselves an enlightened people with no need for more than cursory violence. When they arrived on earth, building up a military that could face humans became a necessity. A necessity that all Hawfax regretted and many Hawfax denied. At the start of the war the Hawfax had very few troops, and those that they had were mostly glorified policemen.<br /><br />&nbsp;The Jungle war was fought fairly informally-- no nation officially sent troops to the amazon, and even the government of Brazil dragged its feet on actually doing anything to hinder one side or the other. The human forces were a ragtag coalition of opportunists. The derivation was mostly from Brazil, the United States, Latin America, and Europe. The attackers were rounded up only after the Hawfax had demonstrated clear military superiority, at which point official opinion came down severely.<br /><br />The attackers were poorly organized, and their were really two separate forces. Raul Carvalho led a force of mostly local men speaking Portuguese and Spanish. Most of them had immediate grievances against the Hawfax, mainly the end of the rubber-trade. Sam Cade lead a mostly foreign band of adventures and mercenaries, who largely spoke english, but many languages could be found throughout his men. They sought to take back the earth from the aliens and demons that had arrived to conquer mankind.&nbsp; There was a fair amount of military experience in Cade's army, but it was poorly distributed. Of course, no Hawfax had seen previous military action.<br /><h2>Soldiers</h2>The Hawfax mostly fought the war under equipped -- the typical fighter was designed for law enforcement rather than large scale action. Their weapons were largely made of plastics, and had a strong tendency to jam and break after a few hundred shots. Of particularly shoddy quality were the large number of guns printed after the emergency started. Hawfax body armor was also largely ineffective against the large slugs human forces favored, and their own bullets tended to merely injure human combatants.<br /><br />The Hawfax's greatest equipment advantage was their radios and their sensors. Throughout the war, the Hawfax remained aware of the movements of the enemy forces through a combination of cheap cameras, night vision technology, and ubiquitous radio. Another prominent advantage was the medical advantage: disease stalked many of the men who'd come to fight the Hawfax, including infection, while the Hawfax were able to essentially ignore both wound infection and local illness. Its estimated that a over 70% of the humans who died in the war did so from infection well after they'd been shot.<br /><br />The hawfax relied on rails to travel throughout their settlement, which were easily cut. Their more independent means of travel-- ATV's, helicopters, and boats, were quite vulnerable to human fire arms. Troops moved largely on foot throughout the conflict.<br /><br />Both Cade's and Carvalho's armies were armed with a variety of bolt action riffles, shotguns, and pistols. Almost as an effective as a weapon were saws, which were essential in any attempt to deal with high roosting foes. Some soldiers but not many brought armor. notably lacking was artillery and there were very few machine guns. Hand to hand combat heavily favors humans -- a simple blow can seriously injure a hawfax.<br /><br />The nature of the combatants is another place of strong contrast. The invader's forces are made of men comfortable with violence who have come a long way from home in search of fame and fortune. The Hawfax have a small group of professional men and the remainder of their population is deeply uncomfortable with the concept of violence. <br /><h2>Politics</h2>Hawfax strategists dreamed of the effect that radio, automatic fire, and superior sensors would have on human forces. Before the war the hawfax felt that as long as they were in a group, they were largely impervious to human attacks. They had an especially dovish set of politics and the military they had was viewed unfavorably as peacekeepers and a possible threat to their own security. This will make it difficult for the military to do things like beef up security or abandon unfeasible positions until they have been defeated at least once.<br /><br />After the conflict starts the hawfax will rapidly start equipping their populace, which is uniquely unsuited for combat. Even after public opinion silences the doves, individuals often will refuse conscription for ethical reasons, or freeze in the face of combat. Their will also be widespread resistance to things like forced relocations, curfews, or using gas against the enemy (not that they have produced any such weapons or even know the best chemicals for use on humans). <br /><br />Governor Pires Ferreira of the state of Amazonas had minimal troops and while he is on good terms with the hawfax, finds himself reduced to a figure head against the forces moving in his own state. The military will refuse to act until the battles were decided, at which point they will support the winner.<br /><br />This conflict was unusual in that not only telegraph updates but footage was sent back to the capitals of the world in virtually real time. The hawfax pressed the governments to condemn the actions, but official leaders largely followed the lead of Governor Ferreira in being cautious and timid until they knew how the conflict would end. Some of the democratic nations at least had the excuse that the situation put their militaries and legislatures into bickering upheavals, and that it was clear from the start the action would be over quickly. A strong exception to this was Bolivia, Peru, and Chile, who were very vocal in their condemnation of the attacks, and particularly in blaming Brazil.<br /><h2>Battles</h2>When playing out the jungle war, time lines are of necessity fragile things. The PC's ideally should be able to change the execution of the war through clever ideas, convincing authority figures, and general heroics. That said, certain battles are quite likely to happen, and to happen in a general order. A GM can use these as marker posts in the conflict, and change the timing and results in accordance with PC actions. <br /><h3>The Capture of Landing</h3><a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kzoh8WiiX1w/VsydgYG7KlI/AAAAAAAAAHs/SDCBm8tm_84_Sy8nLbIqe6dazHcnVMELQCKgB/s1600/HawfaxCity.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Kzoh8WiiX1w/VsydgYG7KlI/AAAAAAAAAHs/SDCBm8tm_84_Sy8nLbIqe6dazHcnVMELQCKgB/s200/HawfaxCity.png" width="195" /></a>The first battle of the war will be an assault on the city of landing. Either Cade or Carvalho can make the assault, or they can make it together. Landing is built to human scale, allowing human infantry to rush freely through its streets. This battle is a fairly open battle, with humans on big barges on the river, and the Hawfax making full use of helicopters, boats, and other vehicles-- vehicles likely to go down on their first shot. Guided Rockets may be used by the Hawfax against people in the barges, but they aren't likely to have enough ammo to have a large enough effect. The barge walls will provide a good deal of protection against hawfax bullets until the invaders are close enough to charge. Only the core of the Hawfax miltary will be here, and without large changes in the setup, the battle will end with the humans charging and over-running the place.<br /><br />The Capture of Landing is costly for the hawfax, and perhaps the best way to minimize causulties is to abandon it later on.&nbsp; <br /><h3>The Siege of Hawfax</h3>Unless the hawfax are spurred to action before the initial assault or some clever PC intervenes, human forces will quickly make it to the park region. Or rather, the base of the park region -- the charges that carry humans this far will not help them to get into the heights of the capital. At this point things turn into a siege of a sort. The humans will start cutting down trees they think Hawfax might be in, while trying to keep a look out for Hawfax counterattacks (particularly at night).<br /><br />Chopping the trees will in fact cause a lot of damage to the hawfax infrastructure, and the amount of damage in this period is highly variable. A well prepared attack will have lots of saws, lots of electric lights and the generators to run them, and have the men construct shelters that will stop hawfax bullets and dropped objects. A poorly prepared attack will lack all three of these things, greatly reducing the amount of damage done during the day and giving the hawfax a large advantage at night. Also key is which trees get chopped down. Some areas are much more important than others, and if the loggers can identify which trees are most important, they will do an order of magnitude more damage.<br /><br />Large portions of the area under the main areas of attack will be evacuated by the hawfax. While not many will die, there will be a large loss of property. This time is probably dominated by quickly printing large number of weapons and trying to teach its citizenry how to fight.<br /><br />The attackers will certainly light fires to attempt to burn down the forest. While this is a valid tactic, the hawfax are actually much better prepared to fight fires than people. How well fire will work is in large part based on what time of year its is (September is driest, January the wettest). Wild fires in the jungle work best in the undergrowth of the canopy -- the exact place that the hawfax occupy (and defend). Rain is quite likely to interrupt this: it rains 70% of days in January and 15% of days in July. Still, a GM wishing to turn the battle one way can easily tinker with the weather to give one side or the other an advantage.<br /><h3>The Victory of Night</h3>At certain point, enough of the Hawfax citizenry will be equipped with night vision and firearms to launch a counter attack large enough to overwhelm the remaining human forces. This is entirely reliant on rapidly creating large numbers of weapons.<br /><br />As its name suggests, the victory of the night will turn out in favor of the hawfax. The question is just how one sided the battle is. Many things can increase Hawfax causalities. Not having enough of the hawfax armed when the battle starts will result in more damage. Choosing the wrong hawfax as&nbsp; soldiers and poor organization can also have detrimental results: conscripts will freeze in combat, disregard orders, attack mindlessly, and other costly behaviors if not properly chosen, trained, and lead. A large scale engagement between the two forces will also be deadly (to both sides). Most of the options that save lives take time though, and all the while the humans are sawing away at the foundations of the city.<br /><br />One of the biggest factors in this stage of the war is how the attacking humans leave. Do the Hawfax capture them in a surrender? Do they shoot them all where they stand? Do the attackers leave as a group? Do they scatter into the jungle? These options are important, not in the least to the attackers themselves, but also in terms of public relations and cleanup after the war. <br /><h2>Campaigns in the Jungle War</h2>The Jungle war is a great time and place to set a campaign. Almost everyone was caught unprepared, and its a great place for heroes to shine. The classic&nbsp; miscalculations of PC's and GM's working with new equipment in a new setting is appropriate and 'in-genre'.<br /><br />Care should be taken in choosing from what angle the players approach the war-- play is very different depending on where the players stand. A foot soldier's campaign is in many ways about survival. Playing humans attackers may not be the most tasteful to all groups, but it is certainly among the most challenging scenarios, while hawfax soldiers are well equipped forces with an interesting resource set who start out outnumbered and in large part outgunned. However, as with most military games, the PC's probably are most effective and most gameable on the outskirts of the action. The classic campaign is human observers (with perhaps an friendly hawfax or two) trying to stop the attacks, by political wrangling, sabotage, and any other tactic the PC's can come up with.&nbsp; They can also be voices of warning in the hawfax community, trying to mobilize the reluctant population for war, and coming up with strategies for winning quickly.<br /><br />The Jungle war can also serve as background for other campaigns -- it was a defining moment for all involved, which include most if not all of the Hawfax. Vigorously anti-human demagogues will bring up the incident again and again. Military leaders study it extensively. Characters may have fought in the war on either side, giving them history (and in the case of the hawfax, badly needed combat skills).<br /><br />GM's wishing for a very different game can set their adventures in a world where the hawfax lost the jungle war -- likely due to key buildings being targeted, a dry season letting a forest fire burn the whole thing down, or a nuclear reactor going critical. The hawfax would then be scattered throughout the forest without much infrastructure. The old ruins would make a fitting set for a pulpish plot.<br /><br />More on the hawfax is coming! I hope you enjoy what you've seen so far! Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-9649212526601793902016-05-06T08:57:00.003-07:002016-05-06T08:57:39.243-07:00On Sea Monsters<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eyZC2dl49gQ/VwVYS7T_B9I/AAAAAAAAALw/ZKJI8DMtD-oM7Mkvux3D80KF2TkSRM6vQ/s1600/BaneStormKraken_p223.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="184" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eyZC2dl49gQ/VwVYS7T_B9I/AAAAAAAAALw/ZKJI8DMtD-oM7Mkvux3D80KF2TkSRM6vQ/s320/BaneStormKraken_p223.png" width="320" /></a>What is a sea monster? Why is it so horrible? and how do I avoid just letting my players hack it to death?<br /><br />There are three notable features of a sea monster. First, its aquatic nature. Second, its predatory savagery. Third, its immense girth. For some reason tales of sea monster result in totally massive creatures more often than purely land based tales.<br /><h2>On Bulk</h2>So just how big is it? This is one of the biggest questions when making your sea monster. A great place to start out is "how big is the boat?" Sea monsters are rarely compared to the size of a person: they are compared to the size of the boat. Some sea monsters will attack the people on a vessel much larger (but those tend to be fish people and tangential to our real topic), and sometimes you throw a monster against the ship that's much smaller than it, but as a general rule, the boat and the monster should be evenly matched in size. This is especially true of monsters you want to drag the ship down.<br /><br /><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: left;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TRgdbdyxVh4/VwVaFIEgM7I/AAAAAAAAAL8/vxN1xjCtwpczVGtjZiDV4eV1oTCneAjhg/s1600/krakenEaters.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="358" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TRgdbdyxVh4/VwVaFIEgM7I/AAAAAAAAAL8/vxN1xjCtwpczVGtjZiDV4eV1oTCneAjhg/s640/krakenEaters.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of the monsters shown is an appropriate encounter. The others? Not so much</td></tr></tbody></table>Gurps suggests adding HP and ST in accordance with the cube of weight. This is the scientificly correct way to do things, due to something called the square cube law. Of course, most giant monsters are flagrant offenders of the square cube law, and so I (and many others) suggest raising ST with the cube for most giant monsters. A third option is to use the damage from Cubic Strength and the HP from Square ST: this will give monsters that require lots of hacking away at but don't kill ships with a single blow.<br /><br /><a href="http://www.onlinemoviequotes.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/02/Bigger-Boat.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>The table below matches stats to sizes, with three entries for each SM. Note that individual monsters are likely to vary from the numbers given. Not that it really matters if a ST 120 monster hits your boat or a ST 125. The examples given to the side are conservative weights: Record holders, Boasting Anglers, and Film directors usually move the creature up a level or two, when they don't create another creature that looks like the original but is much bigger. <br /><br /><style>.grey{background: #aaa;}</style> <br /><table> <tbody><tr><th>Weight</th><th>SM</th><th>Short Length</th><th>Long Length</th><th>Cube ST</th><th></th><th>Square ST</th><th></th></tr><tr class="white"><td>100 lbs</td><td>0</td><td>1.5m</td><td>2.1m</td><td>ST 9</td><td>0d+2</td><td>ST 8.5</td><td>0d+1</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>150 lbs</td><td>0</td><td>1.7m</td><td>2.4m</td><td>ST 10</td><td>0d+2</td><td>ST 10</td><td>0d+2</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>200 lbs</td><td>0</td><td>1.8m</td><td>2.7m</td><td>ST 11</td><td>1d+-1</td><td>ST 12</td><td>1d+-1</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>300 lbs</td><td>1</td><td>2.1m</td><td>3.1m</td><td>ST 13</td><td>1d+0</td><td>ST 15</td><td>1d+1</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>500 lbs</td><td>1</td><td>2.5m</td><td>3.7m</td><td>ST 15</td><td>1d+1</td><td>ST 19</td><td>2d+-1</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>700 lbs</td><td>1</td><td>2.8m</td><td>4.1m</td><td>ST 17</td><td>1d+2</td><td>ST 22</td><td>2d+0</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>1000 lbs</td><td>2</td><td>3.1m</td><td>4.6m</td><td>ST 19</td><td>2d+-1</td><td>ST 27</td><td>3d+-1</td><td>Big Bottlenose</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>1500 lbs</td><td>2</td><td>3.6m</td><td>5.3m</td><td>ST 22</td><td>2d+0</td><td>ST 33</td><td>3d+2</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>1 tons</td><td>2</td><td>4m</td><td>5.8m</td><td>ST 24</td><td>2d+1</td><td>ST 38</td><td>4d+0</td><td>Record Squid</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>1.5 tons</td><td>3</td><td>4.5m</td><td>6.6m</td><td>ST 28</td><td>3d+-1</td><td>ST 47</td><td>5d+1</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>2 tons</td><td>3</td><td>5m</td><td>7.3m</td><td>ST 31</td><td>3d+1</td><td>ST 54</td><td>6d+0</td><td>Great White</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>3 tons</td><td>3</td><td>5.7m</td><td>8.4m</td><td>ST 35</td><td>4d+-1</td><td>ST 66</td><td>7d+2</td><td>Orca</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>5 tons</td><td>4</td><td>6.8m</td><td>9.9m</td><td>ST 42</td><td>4d+2</td><td>ST 85</td><td>9d+2</td><td>Mausosaur</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>7 tons</td><td>4</td><td>7.6m</td><td>11m</td><td>ST 47</td><td>5d+1</td><td>ST 100</td><td>11d+0</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>10 tons</td><td>4</td><td>8.6m</td><td>12m</td><td>ST 53</td><td>6d+0</td><td>ST 120</td><td>13d+0</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>15 tons</td><td>5</td><td>9.8m</td><td>14m</td><td>ST 60</td><td>7d-1</td><td>ST 150</td><td>16d+0</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>20 tons</td><td>5</td><td>11m</td><td>16m</td><td>ST 67</td><td>7d+2</td><td>ST 170</td><td>18d+0</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>30 tons</td><td>5</td><td>12m</td><td>18m</td><td>ST 76</td><td>8d+2</td><td>ST 210</td><td>22d+0</td><td>Humpback </td></tr><tr class="white"><td>50 tons</td><td>6</td><td>15m</td><td>21m</td><td>ST 90</td><td>10d+0</td><td>ST 270</td><td>28d+0</td><td>Moby Dick</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>70 tons</td><td>6</td><td>16m</td><td>24m</td><td>ST 100</td><td>11d+0</td><td>ST 320</td><td>33d+0</td><td>Megaladon</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>100 tons</td><td>6</td><td>18m</td><td>27m</td><td>ST 110</td><td>12d+0</td><td>ST 380</td><td>39d+0</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>150 tons</td><td>7</td><td>21m</td><td>31m</td><td>ST 130</td><td>14d+0</td><td>ST 470</td><td>48d+0</td><td>Blue Whale</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>200 tons</td><td>7</td><td>23m</td><td>34m</td><td>ST 140</td><td>15d+0</td><td>ST 540</td><td>55d+0</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>300 tons</td><td>7</td><td>27m</td><td>39m</td><td>ST 160</td><td>17d+0</td><td>ST 660</td><td>67d+0</td><td><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F_TZ4zYEBSw1I%2FSG1mixr4v7I%2FAAAAAAAAFCs%2F-eHzq9QXTHI%2Fs1600%2Fdragon_and_ship.jpg&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>Kraken</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>500 tons</td><td>8</td><td>31m</td><td>46m</td><td>ST 190</td><td>20d+0</td><td>ST 850</td><td>86d+0</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>700 tons</td><td>8</td><td>35m</td><td>51m</td><td>ST 220</td><td>23d+0</td><td>ST 1000</td><td>101d+0</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>1000 tons</td><td>8</td><td>40m</td><td>58m</td><td>ST 240</td><td>25d+0</td><td>ST 1200</td><td>121d+0</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>1500 tons</td><td>9</td><td>45m</td><td>66m</td><td>ST 280</td><td>29d+0</td><td>ST 1500</td><td>151d+0</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>2000 tons</td><td>9</td><td>50m</td><td>73m</td><td>ST 310</td><td>32d+0</td><td>ST 1700</td><td>171d+0</td></tr><tr class="grey"><td>3000 tons</td><td>9</td><td>57m</td><td>84m</td><td>ST 350</td><td>36d+0</td><td>ST 2100</td><td>211d+0</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>5000 tons</td><td>10</td><td>68m</td><td>99m</td><td>ST 420</td><td>43d+0</td><td>ST 2700</td><td>271d+0</td></tr><tr class="white"><td>7000 tons</td><td>10</td><td>76m</td><td>110m</td><td>ST 470</td><td>48d+0</td><td>ST 3200</td><td>321d+0</td></tr></tbody></table><br /><a href="https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F3.bp.blogspot.com%2F_TZ4zYEBSw1I%2FSG1mixr4v7I%2FAAAAAAAAFCs%2F-eHzq9QXTHI%2Fs1600%2Fdragon_and_ship.jpg&amp;container=blogger&amp;gadget=a&amp;rewriteMime=image%2F*" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="107" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/_TZ4zYEBSw1I/SG1mixr4v7I/AAAAAAAAFCs/-eHzq9QXTHI/s1600/dragon_and_ship.jpg" width="200" /></a>Bulk is a defense in and of itself. Even if a creature has no natural armor, large animals can take a lot of damage by the simple fact that their vital organs are deep within them. Even an animal without natural armor should have DR at 1/10th of its HP. Additionally, targeting the vitals of such a creature is not trivial. Those wishing to target the heart, brain, or kidneys will need either a lot of penetration from their missile or a&nbsp; sufficiently ridiculous stick to put a blade on. Adding another DR at 1/10th to attacks vs the vitals is appropriate. <br /><h2>On Aquatics</h2>&nbsp;One of the trickiest difficulties of a sea monster is that its in the water and you're stuck on a boat -- if you're lucky. Being alone in the water is even worse, unless you have some powerful technology or magic to back you up. Don't let the characters attack the monster whenever they feel like it, and most attacks can't be blocked or parried. <br /><br />Sea monsters are generally more maneuverable than ships. They may also be faster, but that's true less often -- though you may have to run with the wind to outrun the thing. Most of the time, you don't go to the sea monster: the sea monster comes to you.<br /><br />The water often forms an additional barrier against injuring the creature. The diffraction in the water gives a -4 to hitting something across the water barrier. Not a problem if you're a aiming for the main body, but if you're aiming for a place that you can actually hurt the thing, like an eye, it can be tricky element to add. And if launch the weapon in the water itself your arm will be impeded! Ranged weapons have greatly reduced ranges, and firearm projectiles will actually bounce off of water.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZK3hw547AM/VwgCEDvCf3I/AAAAAAAAAMU/zvqgZahHzccbRtABhFXN7mFQHlUKdbUvQ/s1600/Whale%2BWatching%2BPic%2B2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="119" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-4ZK3hw547AM/VwgCEDvCf3I/AAAAAAAAAMU/zvqgZahHzccbRtABhFXN7mFQHlUKdbUvQ/s320/Whale%2BWatching%2BPic%2B2.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">nothing visible underwater</td></tr></tbody></table>Of course, That's once you spot the thing. The water forms a reflective barrier that makes it near impossible to see things far away. The angle is important.. you actually have a chance to see things coming up from under you -- but the distance is very reduced. Most of the time, you have to rely on spotting momentary surfacing&nbsp; (which is usually not complete) or bubbles coming up from a surface creature. Fortunately, most of the time you just want the monster to go a way, and a lot are pretty obliging about displaying before they attack or coming to you to latch strait onto your ship. But exceptions do exist, particularly among leviathans, and a smart monster can use hit and run to great effect. <br /><br />If you're serious about running a fight in the water, gurps pyramid 26 -underwater adventures, contains the rules for underwater fights.<br /><h2>On Being Monstrous</h2>There are a number of shapes that show up in sea monster lore again and again.&nbsp; The serpent, the kraken, and the leviathan (ie, really big fish shaped creature). There is a curious dearth of arthropods, probably because arthropods aren't open water creatures and don't get as big as the others.<br /><br />Sea Serpents tend to be smaller than the ship. They also tend to either have main bodies impervious to most hand weapons, or to display only their head during an attack.&nbsp; <br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/castleage/images/1/1c/Serpent_Emerald.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091215143901" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://vignette3.wikia.nocookie.net/castleage/images/1/1c/Serpent_Emerald.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20091215143901" height="200" width="199" /></a></div>One signature mark of the sea serpent is the head. Unlike the other two classic forms, The serpent can stick his ugly head up on board the ship and look you in the eye before he eats you. The head of a serpent moves across the deck of the ship monstrously fast -- it should have enough reach that it can strike most of the crew with them striking it. Attacking the serpents head requires ranged weapons, a sufficiently long stick, or acrobatics in the rigging.<br /><br />The other signature of the sea serpent are its coils. In fiction, sea serpents are always coiling around the ships they attack. Their goal may be to crush the ship, it may be to drag it under, or it may be to just get a firm grip on the thing its attacking (which would actually a tactically sound idea if it was dealing with a leviathan).<br /><br />The Kraken is a squid shaped monster. That is to say, it has lots of arms. It is common for fiction to not even bother giving a proper count on the arms. Battles with Krakens on the big screen often depict a lot of tentacle chopping. Realistically, this will end the battle pretty quickly -- unless you have the kraken with the improper arm count or a cinematic kraken. Of course, its usually only heroes who can cut through a tentacle. Be sure you know a kraken's goals -- If its trying to just grab the crew for a quick snack, it can be terrifying as it sweeps around tentacles, grabs three or four of them, and then disappears into the deep. Of course, Krakens in fiction usually try to sink the ship, presumably because they want to eat it.<br /><br />The leviathan is at once the tamest and the trickiest of the forms. Its the truest to life, as evidenced by classics like Moby Dick (Ok, Jaws can also be considered a leviathan). A battle with a leviathan is a very impersonal thing. There is no eye contact, and the leviathan makes good use of the protection of the sea -- most attacks can be made without leaving the water. Of course, Leviathans don't usually float right under the boat and chew until their is a hole: Leviathan combat is about movement. They charge their targets, and its not uncommon for them to launch themselves right out of the air after an attack.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://animal-dream.com/data_images/leviathan/leviathan2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://animal-dream.com/data_images/leviathan/leviathan2.jpg" height="187" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Which one to use? decisions, decisions!</td></tr></tbody></table>&nbsp;And sometimes the craziest monsters combine multiple forms. Such is fiction, nightmares, and crazy GMs. When I was a kid I gave a serpent a tentacled end, a shark head, and crab claws. When you do this, step back, and ask yourself what the thing is going to behave like. In retrospect, the thing acted much like a serpent -- a personal, face to face conflict based on picking off specific crew. So when you run into something really crazy, just ask yourself what it acts like. And its entirely possible for that kind of crazy monster to act like different monsters at different times.<br /><br />There is actually a fourth archetype that may play into some sea monsters: the Dragon. which deserves its own article (<a href="http://www.sjgames.com/gurps/books/dragons/">and got its own book</a>). In some ways, its an extension of the personal and armored serpent, but in other ways, its an extension of a land dwelling monster to the ocean. A similar thing can be said about the giant crab -- essentially a land monster in an aquatic environment.<br /><h2>Facing Down a Ship</h2>A sea monster attacking a ship generally has one of three goals:<br /><ul><li>It wants to eat the ship</li><li>It wants to drive the ship out of its territory</li><li>It wants to eat the people</li></ul>These motivations effect the way the monster fights.<br /><br />It also important to remember that most monsters are dumb brutes that don't realize the advantages they have. The smart ones generally only have a few tricks that make them one step above animalistic, and don't tend to come up with new tricks. Of course, truly intelligent monsters are possible. Just don't be surprised when they become much tougher to defeat.&nbsp; <br /><h3>Dragging it down: </h3><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://rs827.pbsrc.com/albums/zz192/Royal_museum_rk/Portraits/ShipSinking_zps0d006434.jpg~c200" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://rs827.pbsrc.com/albums/zz192/Royal_museum_rk/Portraits/ShipSinking_zps0d006434.jpg~c200" /></a></div>So often in fiction, the goal of the monster appears to drag the ship down into the water with it. Ships are remarkably buoyant, up until the point where they start taking water on the inside. It takes a great deal of strength to drag the ship all the way down, but merely tipping the ship over can be just as bad. Of course, most boats are built to intentionally be difficult to capsize. In most cases, the crew can do little to help the ship beyond clever tricks to give small penalties to the contest (likely -2 at the most), and fighting off the monster.<br /><br />To drag down a ship, a monster needs a way to grasp it -- so serpents and krakens tend to do this the most. The point at which the monster grips the ship is important, as that's where the heroes need to focus their attack.<br /><br />Ships are remarkably bouyant and stable -- those are pretty much the qualities they are designed for. They also won't fight back being tipped over with more than brute force -- which means you need a reasonable way to roll strength. B349 has rules on how to adjust the scores. You can resolves a monster trying to tip over or pull down a ship however you want, but remember the following:<br /><ul><li>Treating it as a grapple where sinking is a take-down takes a mere 1 second</li><li>Treating it as a grapple where tipping or pulling down is a pin will still be over within 10 seconds.</li><li>Ships are big. Even a monster capable of simply pulling it down will need time to move the ship the requisite distance.</li><li>&nbsp;Attempting to pull a ship down is a great way to cause it damage.&nbsp;</li><li>Attempting to pull down a ship may result in inadvertent tipping.&nbsp;</li><li>The time to capsize is effectively a time bomb for your players -- it forces them to confront and defeat the monster quickly. Time the capsize accordingly</li></ul>This is completely made up, but the following should be playable.<br /><ul><li>Find the effective strengths of the ship and the monster.&nbsp;</li><li>Each round roll a contest of strength. </li><li>Each margin of success by the monster sinks/tips the ship by 5%.</li><li>If the ship is being pulled down, it returns to its place at a rate of 10% per margin of success. Its also appropriate to add the ships stability to this roll -- and to tip the ship if the stability bonus gives the ship the victory. Don't add the two numbers together -- track them seperately</li><li>Once 100% is reached, a tipped ship is on its side, and starts taking on water. It takes 5 minutes of work and a successful shiphandling roll at -4 (this may be a good place for a technique) to right the ship. The monster may attempt to just keep rolling the ship, which doesn't really change its</li><li>Once 100% is reached on a ship being pulled down, the ship starts taking on water. It keeps on resisting the monster's pull, though as water fills the ship, it will resist less and less.&nbsp;</li></ul><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-5/attack-of-giant-squid-martin-davey.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://images.fineartamerica.com/images-medium-5/attack-of-giant-squid-martin-davey.jpg" height="226" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Is this a tip or a pull under? </td></tr></tbody></table>The rate at which water enters the ship is highly dependent on the design of the ship -- the GM should decide on a rate.This method can and should be modified when need be -- changing the rates at which the contests of strength happen and 'percent capsized' can slow, speed up, or make more swingy the rate at which the boat goes down. Smaller boats should tip or pull down faster than large ones.<br /><br />Sometimes a Leviathan will attempt to capsize a vessel (classically a smaller boat). This is not an attempt to drag down or tip the ship via grappling rules. The leviathan needs either a large ST advantage or persistence and a clever mind to pull this off. Model a single attempt like a fluke sending a wave or bumping the ship with the head as a take down attempt using half the ST score. A more involved attempt like amplifying the rocking motion of the boat takes longer (probably 20 seconds), but may be able to use the full ST score at the GM's option. Unlike a physical grapple, these actions DO give the crew a chance to react and fight back, but they will need to be aware of what's going on and ready to counter it to avoid massive (-4?) penalties to their rolls. <br /><h3>Breaking the Ship:</h3>Leaks can happen through punching through the hull, but they can also happen due to internal stress. And sea monsters don't generally punch small holes in the ship: they squeeze it, ram it, or otherwise attack the grand structure. Monsters generally don't bite ships -- boats they might, but not ships.&nbsp; <br /><br />Despite the cannon ball problem&nbsp; and the fact I often have problems with how slam and constricting damage work, this is probably one time when the rules on those three topics come out nicely. Alternatively, have the ship make HT rolls after each slam or 5 seconds of constriction or take an appropriate amount (10 percent?) of damage. Its worth noting that most underwater ramming attacks will take place with fairly long intervals as the creature rams, pulls away, and then builds up speed again. Impact velocity for leviathans is generally between moves 10 and 15. Additional DR should be given to a creature that intentionally rams, and especially one thats designed to do so (Orcas come to mind).<br /><h2>Using Sea Monsters</h2>The sea monster fight is interesting because its almost obligatory to throw in once and boring to do it twice. Voyage of the Dawn Treader -- many monsters, only one serpent. 20 Thousand Leagues Under the Sea -- one giant squid. Dreamwork's Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas. Several different monsters, but only one counts as a sea monster as treated in this work. In Odysseus, we have two sea monsters-- who show up at the exact same time. Order of the Stick talks about fighting every aquatic monster in the book (literally, as befits order of the stick), but so far only ever shows one fight with a big aquatic monster (a summoned giant squid). There is a lot of precedence for fighting a giant monster once and only once. And if the campaign (or campaign leg) consists of nothing but fighting massive aquatic beasts, you run the risk of being boring.<br /><br />Unless! your characters go into the game knowing that sea monsters are main foe and specialize as hunters of them. A crew of larger than life whalers hunting down killers that ravage shipping lanes, or&nbsp; hunters of exotic creatures. This is because sea monsters by nature don't bring a lot of plot with them. They show up, terrorize a ship, and then go away. Additionally, it takes an odd set of skills to fight a monster correctly and most characters won't have that set.<br /><br />But lots and lots of campaigns can use sea monsters as an added element. I hope this article gives you lots of ideas of what to add and how to handle the fight.Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-86380304944006877572016-05-05T19:34:00.003-07:002016-05-05T19:36:27.756-07:00Journal of the Dice: Not this BlogI'm launching a new blog, <a href="http://journalofthedice.blogspot.com/">Journal of the Dice</a>. I'm launching it because the two blogs are about fundamentally different things: journal of the dice is about solo campaigns and the results of random generators. And that's it. This blog is about worlds created and rules suggestions for playing in worlds -- not about journal logs for a game I play with myself.<br /><br />That said, Journal of the dice has been lots of fun, and I've been enjoying it a lot. Its also not completely disconnected from this project: you'll see a good deal of crossover coming soon -- these campaigns tend to be ambitious projects. For instance, I'll be posting some stuff on wide-area low control effects fairly soon.&nbsp; <br /><br />If you feel like following just one blog or the other I completely understand: its one of the reasons I separated the two blogs in the first place. I hope you enjoy both, or at least one of them!Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-16566773217873813922016-04-25T09:43:00.001-07:002016-04-25T09:43:30.859-07:00Cinematic Sword Play<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://combativecorner.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/04.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="162" src="https://combativecorner.files.wordpress.com/2010/11/04.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Three minutes. when's the last game you fought for 10 rounds?</td></tr></tbody></table>One of the great classics in cinema is the long drawn out fight. These fights consist of long, drawn out contests of skill, movement, and even conversation. They take minutes to resolve, not seconds. Gurps is notable for its speed of combat -- it happens very quickly in game time and rather slowly in real time. It is not suited for emulating, say, the duel from The Princess Bride.<br /><br />And yet gurps should be able to do anything! It should be able to handle both quick combat and long and drawn out combat.<br /><a name='more'></a><br /><h2>The Basic Mechanic</h2>Choose a primary attack skill and primary defense. Your "Combat advantage" is attack skill + double your active defense. compare to your opponent's combat advantage and divide by three. roll a quick contest of 10 vs 10+combat advantage. The winner lands a hit on their opponent, in a random location.<br /><br />The GM may wish to modify combat slightly for extreme weapon mismatches. Of note is that unarmed opponents get -2 to combat advantage if they take damage from missed parries (though a cinematic campaign may reduce or eliminate this, and it may be waived for knights in armor) and&nbsp; a weapon with a reach advantage often gets a +1.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/0/08/DotF_TPM.png/revision/latest?cb=20131206170906" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/0/08/DotF_TPM.png/revision/latest?cb=20131206170906" height="300" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">And this one is what? five minutes on screen? twice that off screen?</td></tr></tbody></table>This process takes a while, during which time the foes are dueling back and forth, slinging insults and moving around. The amount of time needed to produce a hit depends on the lower of the two active defenses:<br /><br /><table><tbody><tr><th>Defense Score</th><th>Time per Contest</th></tr><tr><td>10</td><td>1 second</td></tr><tr><td>11</td><td>2 seconds</td></tr><tr><td>12</td><td>5 seconds</td></tr><tr><td>13</td><td>10 seconds</td></tr><tr><td>14</td><td>20 seconds</td></tr><tr><td>15</td><td>1 minute</td></tr><tr><td>16</td><td>2 minutes</td></tr><tr><td>17</td><td>5 minutes</td></tr><tr><td>+3</td><td>x10</td></tr></tbody></table><h2>Stunts</h2>Cinematic Sword fights are full of stunts.&nbsp; Swinging from chandeliers, kicking over barrels, standing on banisters, blocking with objects weapons will get stuck in -- of such stuff are cinematic fights made. Stunts in this system are essentially complementary skills. The player picks an action that will aid in the fighting, and the GM assigns the appropriate skill. A successful roll gives a +1 to the contest, -- but the opponent gets a chance to negate it, via rolling against an appropriate skill. Each stunt should only be attempted once per combat -- though in a fight with multiple foes, you may be able to use it more than once. The GM may simply add -2 to the stunt with each try, or may just say "Find something new and creative to do". Failed stunts give either a -1 to the contest or some other consequence, as the GM sees fit.<br /><h2>Successes other than Damage</h2>Sometimes you have a goal other than damage. In fact, the silver screen is fond of such things -- a sword fight is as likely to end in a clever outmaneuver, disarming, or in the dirt with wild fists as they are likely to end with an elegant stab.<br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YBTYox8XkCI/Vx4_ZIEQlGI/AAAAAAAAANs/37Uzr27WMiMEue1Lz7RGj-az-oa1_RrnQCLcB/s1600/swords.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="151" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YBTYox8XkCI/Vx4_ZIEQlGI/AAAAAAAAANs/37Uzr27WMiMEue1Lz7RGj-az-oa1_RrnQCLcB/s200/swords.png" width="200" /></a><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jdFv3pBSr4Q/Vx5ABCDESFI/AAAAAAAAAOA/NRYh4DI7HgEKUdymlefg7QnCas-iJ68QwCKgB/s1600/horses.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="125" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-jdFv3pBSr4Q/Vx5ABCDESFI/AAAAAAAAAOA/NRYh4DI7HgEKUdymlefg7QnCas-iJ68QwCKgB/s200/horses.png" width="200" /></a></div><a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cvDOMdxQmg0/Vx4_aC7sz9I/AAAAAAAAANw/wmhNpVAY7fY4hgWSJbreEWgdN4tziDfPACLcB/s1600/fists.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cvDOMdxQmg0/Vx4_aC7sz9I/AAAAAAAAANw/wmhNpVAY7fY4hgWSJbreEWgdN4tziDfPACLcB/s200/fists.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Yeah, its all one fight. </td></tr></tbody></table><b>Changing Combat Paradigm</b>: Quite often in fights, the fighting will change weapons. Medevial knight duels in film are notorious for going from horseback, to swords, to fists. A single success allows you to change the combat paradigm. This is a mild change -- you go from sword fighting to fists, you pick up your dropped sword, or unseat an enemy from their horse. This is not traditional disarming -- for that use a targeted attack. If two skills are involved, average them when determining combat rating: <br /><br />for example, a man attempting to change from a sword fight to a wrestling match would use the average of his skill 16 sword and his skill 14 wrestling.<br /><br />Yes, realistically, there should be more risk in turning a sword fight into a fist fight -- but this is cinematic combat, and in the movies, the hero rarely gets hurt at the moment when both sides loose their swords at the same time! <br /><h2>How We Fight</h2>Of course, things would be boring if we abstracted absolutely everything away. In this abstracted combat, there are more abstract strategies you can take. The listed effects are not the only implications -- they very much effect what stunts are possible and can modify the difficulty of changing the combat paradigm.<br /><br /><b>Defensive</b>: You focus on defending yourself, not on defeating your opponent. Double the time per contest.<br /><b>Complete Defense</b>: You aren't trying to hit your&nbsp; foe at all! multiply the time per contest by five, but on a success you do not do any damage.<br /><b>Offensive</b>: You are in a hurry, more urgent to get this fight over with and with less regard to you safety. Halve the time per contest.<br /><b>Rushed Offensive</b>: You are urgently attacking your foe! divide time per contest by five but roll at -1 to your attack.&nbsp; <br /><b>Intensive</b>: You are sinking a lot of energy into this fight. spend 1 or 2 FP to get a +1 or +2 to your next roll. Your opponent can tell you are doing this, and may choose to spend FP of their own in response.<br /><b>Mobile</b>: You are taking full advantage of the ability to retreat. Increase your effective defense score by the amount that a retreat would. However, your foe may choose to leave or pass you at any time.<br /><b>Tricky:</b> While you appear to be fighting with the intent to defeat your opponent conventionally, you're actually maneuvering him into a position you want him -- perhaps backing him towards the edge of a cliff, enticing him under a waiting ally hiding in the rafters with a rock, or faking a wound so you can use it later. This is a contest of acting, tactics, observation or whatever, but it isn't free -- making this attempt gives a -1 to the contest.<br /><b>Multiple Attack Vectors</b>: You are using non-optimal attacks to get in hits. you get a +1 to your contest, but any success by 2 or less is a hit with a limb, pommel, sheild bash or other non-optimal striking surface. To use this the character should have brawling, boxing, karate, shield, or other appropriate skills within 2 of the primary weapon.&nbsp; <br /><b>Targeted Attacks</b>: If its really necessary, you can aim for a specific location. Divide the penalty to hit by three, round normally, and subtract it from your combat advantage. Or just re-figure the combat advantage. <br /><h2>Multiple Foes</h2>Multiple worthy or higher foes are treated as multiple fights -- but the foe ganged up on has to pick a foe to hurt! a success on a different roll just buys him breathing time. A pair of foes can try to get a bonus to their attacks if they coordinate: Each combatant uses the lowest of their and one other allies tactics skill. rolls are at -2 if the allies are not familiar at fighting with one another, and -4 if they are also from completely different combat traditions. It is opposed by the target's tactics skill. a success gives a +1 to the opposed rolls. only one roll is allowed per 'situation'. A situation changes when the terrain changes, a new weapon is adopted, or the situation changes <i>in the favor </i>of the side seeking to reroll (no going from three attackers to two in order to reroll failed attacks!)<br /><h2>Analysis</h2>We were hoping to make combat more cinematic, and have fights take both more time in game and less time for the players. I think I've accomplished that goal. Experienced players may experience some loss in power, but that's a function of removing an aspect of the game that the player is good at, not the character. Results should be roughly the same in terms of winner or looser if the combat paradigm doesn't change.<br /><br />&nbsp;One major aspect is missing from the system: dealing with mooks. This is complicated and involved enough that it deserves a post of its own: the system will feature opposed tactics and soldier rolls and focus on how many mooks you have to deal with at a time.<br /><br />While I focused on swords, this system may be just as appropriate for gunfights in some genres: The gun character says "I'll go hold them off.", and then instead of going to an intense 30 second scene where he guys through enemies, we get cuts of a war of maneuver, aim, and rate of fire. That system has a lot more tactics in it, and probably needs the mook system to be fully useable.<br /><br />I hope you enjoy this system, and I hope it tweaks your fight times in ways that are useful.<br /><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-67735767591565585032016-04-21T11:28:00.002-07:002016-04-21T11:28:53.098-07:00Monster Hunters: Cononel Rush, Mad ScientistI was playing around with Collaborative Gamer's Adventure generator using my rules for Monster hunters, and got the following plot idea:<br /><h2>Hook</h2>A bunch of previously deathly ill and weak patients at a hospital go berserk, smashing equipment, trying to bite people, and making bestial noises.<br /><br />The players may have to restrain the patients themselves, or they may arrive after they are all restrained (or dead). Investigation should reveal at least some of the following facts:<br /><ul><li>This is an Zombie Virus</li><li>Its not infectious, at least not via biting&nbsp;</li><li>These symptoms are characteristic of zombies associated with one Colonel Rush, a mad scientist and rouge super soldier who has declared war on 'God'. </li><li>Colonel Rush seems to create zombies for some unknown purpose</li><li>One of the medical staff wandering around was faking his identity -- he looks like Colonel Rush</li><li>Each of the Victims had the same quasi-diagnosed symptoms</li><li>There was one more victim with the same symptoms -- and she's missing from the hospital</li><li>Colonel Rush took the girl</li></ul>Further clues should lead the hunters on a chase to rescue the girl before the colonel dissects her or worse. <br /><h3>The Colonel</h3>Built as a Techie with the criminal lens and the overman power up.<br />ST 13&nbsp; HP 17<br />DX 14&nbsp; Will 18<br />IQ 18&nbsp; Per 18<br />HT 14 FP 14<br />Traits:&nbsp; Injury Tolerance (unliving), Neural Computation Matrix 2, Cerebral-motor multitasking, Enhanced Time Sense, 3 gizmos, High Pain Threshold, Serendipity, Unusual biochemistry <br />Skills: Inventor!-19, Medic!-18, Tactics - 18, Weird Science- 17, Liquid Projector (Sprayer) -16, Guns (riffle) -16, Saber -13, Throwing-13, Acrobatics-14, Wrestling - 15, Acting-18, Intimidation - 18, Traps-18, Lockpicking-18, Urban Survival -18, Streetwise-18, Forced Entry-15, Driving -14 (and others)<br /><br />The Colonel is a coward at heart -- this is a rescue and capture mission, not a fight mission. The guy is slippery -- perception rolls are typically all at 23 (ETS gives +5 if time is an issue),&nbsp; Maneuvering him into a corner requires beating him at tactics, He's not bad in a fight, and he can steal cars, set or disarm traps at the drop of a hat, and he tends to be quite well equipped. Play him as a very prepared foe as well a very intelligent one -- he will always have an exit planned. He's also not afraid to take hostages to trade his way out of a situation.<br /><br />The Colonel carries several aeresol spray 'bombs', filling an area with a chemical or biological agent. Some of these are duds! others contain nasty chemicals or biological agents. These aren't just thrown, he will also use them in traps. Unless specified, two successful resistances or a failure makes the target immune in the future.<br /><br /><b>Rage Gas:</b> A biochemical agent that causes madness. Inhaled, HT-4,&nbsp; 10 second onset, failure results in target going berserk for a full minute. This can be used in a crowd to slow down hunters or loose himself in the chaos, but if he wants to hurt them, he'll need to get a champion to fail his HT roll. <br /><b>Sleep Gas:</b> Inhaled, HT-2, 10 second onset, failure results in unconsciousness<br /><b>Zombie Spores:</b> Inhaled, HT, 60 second onset, failure results in victim becoming unconscious for 5 minutes and then a slow zombie for 1 hour.<br /><b>Placebo:</b> Does nothing, but looks different and can be quite useful<br /><b>Hallucinogens</b>:Skin Contact, HT-4, 20 second onset, Hallucinating<br /><b>Nerve Gas:</b> Skin Contact, HT-6, no onset, 1d6-2 over six one minute cycles<br /><b>Death Spores: </b>HT-4, 8+1d*2 minute onset, 1d6 damage per cycle, 10 cycles of one minute <br /><br />This is not the limit of the list. If you use this adventure feel free to come up with more ideas for his bombs.<br /><br />Colonel Rush also uses zombies. If he is given an hour with a subject, he can turn them into a fast zombie that obeys his commands. If he is rushed, 10 minutes is sufficient to prepare a slow zombie or a fast zombie that doesn't follow commands at all!<br /><br />Colonel Rush's file is not hard to get, but you do need to be in the know, and often people don't have time to grab gas masks before heading out to face him.<br /><br />Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2468603713543764042.post-80446542480200488362016-04-15T11:18:00.002-07:002016-04-18T07:42:21.681-07:00Adapting Collaborative Gaming to Monster Hunters<div style="text-align: right;"></div>The <a href="https://thecollaborativegamer.wordpress.com/">Collaborative Gaming System </a>is obviously made for fantasy, and skews that direction. But how hard would it be to run it with a different genre? Like say, Monster Hunters. I decided to go ahead and do that, and tell you guys about the modifications I had to make. The modifications are fairly large, but they are also fairly simple.<br /><ul><li>Adjust Monster Type Table</li><li>Treasure and Fame become saved lives and monster slaying</li><li>All Adventures start off as investigation, with starting clue</li><li>Solo 6 for What, Where, When, Who, and Why being obvious</li><li>How far is changed to 'how fast is the investigation take place'</li><li>'Dungeons' are changed to 'Lairs' and 'Crime Scenes' (info areas) </li><li>Connect Clues with Lore Points</li><li>Peril and Monster Hunters Balance </li></ul><h2>Monster Type Table</h2>One of the big obstacles is that the monster table given isn't appropriate. Of course, Monster Hunters has a fairly standard list of foes. These foes are different for each GM and setting: Fae may or may not be a big foe. You may or may not want aliens in your game. You may or may not want to come up with a mutant animal on the spot when asked to. Psi may dominate your game or not be included at all. You may have a full demi-human cast like Monster Hunters International or none at all. That said, as long as you know what you want, building the table is easy.<br /><br />This is my own version: <br /><table border="0" bordercolor="#0033FF" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="background-color: white; width: 100%;"><tbody><tr><th>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; </th><th>1</th><th>2</th><th>3</th><th>4</th><th>5</th><th><br /></th></tr><tr><th><br /></th><th>Undead</th><th>Spirit</th><th>Living</th><th>Humans</th><th>Aliens</th><th><br /></th></tr><tr><th>1</th><td>Vampires</td><td>Rouge Angels</td><td>Lycanthrope</td><td>Rouge Crusader</td><td>Greys</td><td></td></tr><tr><th>2</th><td>Vampires</td><td>In Betweener </td><td>Lycanthrope</td><td>Cultists</td><td>Nordics</td><td></td></tr><tr><th>3</th><td>Ghost</td><td>Demons</td><td>Lycanthrope</td><td>Rouge Psi</td><td>Alien Monster</td><td></td></tr><tr><th>4</th><td>Mummy</td><td>Demons</td><td>Mutant Animal</td><td>Rouge Witch</td><td>Reptoids</td><td></td></tr><tr><th>5</th><td>Zombie (Curse)</td><td>Fae</td><td>Legendary Creature</td><td>Rouge Experiment</td><td>Stalkers</td><td></td></tr><tr><th>6</th><td>Zombie (biological)</td><td>Fae</td><td>Custom Curse</td><td>Campaign Emphasis</td><td>Campaign Emphasis</td><td></td></tr></tbody></table><br /><br /><b>On 6:</b> Campaign Emphasis<br /><b>Lycanthrope: </b>1-2: wolf, 3: eagle, 4: bear, 5: tiger, 6: random animal<br /><b>Alien Monster:</b> 1:Insectiods, 2: Phasites, 3: Devourers, 4: Disease, 5: Create New, 6: Campaign emphasis<br /><b>Legendary Creature:</b> Use chupacabra if you need stats premade. Or get creative and pick yetis, lake monsters, a dragon, or your local legend<br /><b>Custom Curse:</b> This is a curse on a creature or person.&nbsp; It should be considered a 'living' creature.<br />&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; <br />The four campaign emphasis options should be picked at the start of the campaign: they show what is emphasized in this campaign. It doesn't have to be a new category, but it doesn't have to be an old category either. An entire category of 'curses' or 'demihumans' could be added. Rouge humans could be another Witch or Psi, but it could be Men in Black or a mad scientist. At this stage also prune what you don't want, and replace it with options you want to emphasize. Perhaps all psi is replaced with magic, or perhaps you don't want cultists.<br /><br />Further, You should always roll on this table when picking a villain -- but don't roll on the table until you have clues that tell you what the monster is, or what its 'appears' to be. This table may very well come up more than once for a single hunt!<br /><h2><a href="http://www.thedailycrate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Blog-Cynthia-Sheppard-03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.thedailycrate.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/Blog-Cynthia-Sheppard-03.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a>Treasure and Fame: Lives and Slaying</h2><a href="http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/1102982_27786483s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.campaignmastery.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/1102982_27786483s.jpg" height="133" width="200" /></a>Monster Hunters don't fight for money (ok, some do, but they're exceptions) and they despise fame: it endangers the secret. They want to save people and to kill monsters. So on the rewards table replace 'rates' with 'lives saved' and Social points with 'Monster Killing': instead of Standard Rates with Fame and Glory you have a moderate number of lives at stake with the opportunity to kill an exceptional number of monsters.<br /><h2>Starting Adventures, or should I say Hunts</h2>On finding Adventure, Monster hunters generally have trouble come to them rather than the other way around. The initial clue, the inciting incident, isn't just scene dressing -- its an important part of the investigation. <br /><br />1:You notice a odd behavior or a monster<br />2:Someone is dead<br />3:a monster attacks a player<br />4:Research yields behavioral clues<br />5:Someone else notices an odd behavior and tells you<br />6:Mystical Means<br /><br />Don't roll up the adventure type until you know what its going to be: the majority of monster hunter adventures start with investigation. You have five things to figure out: What, Where, When, Who, and Why. At the start of an investigation, roll the solo 6 for each, asking 'is this obvious?' This doesn't mean the answer is correct, just that it appears this way. Investigation is required to confirm each, at which point, you roll the solo 6 again to see if the fact was true...<br /><br />The adventure type table is also a little skewed towards Fantasy activities and away from monster hunting ones. In particular, compete and explore tend to be rolled a lot more than your typical monster hunters would want, and we want more emphasis on investigate. Change compete and explore rolls of 5 or 16 into investigate rolls (about half of compete or explore quests become investigate adventures).<br /><h2><a href="http://www.worldmapsonline.com/images/MWW-IOCLWM.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.worldmapsonline.com/images/MWW-IOCLWM.jpg" height="200" width="199" /></a>Distance and Time</h2>The distance category is technically measured in 'Units of Time to location', but this can be tweaked to represent how easy the investigation is to follow: and as a consequence how long each step of the investigation can take. Actual distance may be involved as well, but the most important measure is the dominant unit of time.<br /><br />Its also probably a good idea to increase the sense of urgency at the lowest level: Change "No Particular Rush" to "People die, but at a category one slower than expected, and it won't go away with until dealt with". <br /><h2>Dungeons and Crime Scenes</h2>Monster Hunters don't really do journeys. You have special skills that let you find the danger, you don't encounter it just wandering around. The way they do dungeons is also different, but surprisingly similar. Most Dungeons are a single area: Usually a crime scene or a monster lair. Roll for the entrance if there is a chance of hostiles. Be creative about the word 'guarded': it could be a lock, could be a ward, could a security alarm. Or actual guards. When rolling for opportunities roll on the 'best' category of 'safe', 'info' or 'lair'. When rolling for mishaps, choose the least dangerous option that makes sense -- monster hunters don't do a lot of combat. <br /><h2>Dealing with Clues and Lore Points</h2>Lore points are of especial interest: They are good for a +1 clue that you wouldn't have expected at the scene. Bad guys make mistakes! Roll on the table for what kind of tip was left.<br /><br /><b>1: What 2: Where 3: When 4: Who 5: Why 6: Player choice or other useful info</b><br /><a href="http://huubvandesandt.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/manuscript2.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://huubvandesandt.nl/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2011/11/manuscript2.png" height="200" width="149" /></a><br />If the category has already been solved, treat it as a 6, and choose what kind of a clue you need. <br /><br />When selecting clues, come up with an 'apparent' adventure. Why clues can be inspired by adventure types. What clues use monster types. Who clues use random pieces of NPC. When Clues use the 'What's the rush Table'. These are mined for little bits and pieces, though players should feel free to use the solo6 to confirm or disprove theories before rolling for completely new data.<br /><h2>Peril and Balance</h2>The peril system isn't quite as applicable for Monster Hunters -- and sometimes you'll get responses like 2N rouge angels -- what do you do then? Well, you do your best. Let peril make things harder or easier without changing the stats<br /><h2>In Summary</h2>I hope you enjoy this. In some ways, its can aid in GMing as well as in solo or collaborative play. I goofed around and quickly generated a couple of fairly interesting monster hunters plots. The system is really good, and as you can see, not really that hard to adapt to monster hunters. Happy hunting! Eric the Redhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08149962809083574966noreply@blogger.com0